Nazara Tech-led NODWIN Gaming buys 100% stake in licensed merchandising D2C company Planet Superheroes

13 Jan 2022 , 03:05 PM

NODWIN Gaming, South Asia’s leading esports company and a material subsidiary of Nazara Technologies Limited has added one more feather to its cap by acquiring comic, pop culture and superheroes merchandising retailer – Planet Superheroes.

Nazara Technologies was trading at Rs2378 per piece higher by 3.09% on the BSE, at around 3:07 PM.

This new addition will enable NODWIN Gaming to offer iconic global merchandise to the millions of youth who engage with NODWIN Gaming via its immensely popular IPs such as India Premiership, VCC, NH7 and DreamHack.

NODWIN will also expand on the current offerings of Planet Superheroes by exploring partnerships with global publishers like KRAFTON, Gameloft, Riot Games etc., to create innovative and locally relevant merchandise and licensing offerings on games like BGMI, Valorant, PUBG PC, Asphalt, CSGO, etc., that have become household names.

Planet Superheroes (PSH) is a tech-enabled, omni-channel brand that retails licensed character merchandise or ‘Superhero Merch’ as it is popularly known. PSH offers official licensed merchandise from Marvel, Warner Bros, Disney, Viacom Networks, Cartoon Network, Fox Studios, Hamleys and Toys R Us, among others. The variety ranges from action figures, collectibles, toys for kids, fashion & home accessories, stationery and apparel.

Planet Superheroes has catered to 2L+ consumers and has shipped over 5L orders since its incorporation in 2015. It has partnered with over 10+ marquee licensed global and domestic IP partners and has created a strong global supply chain with omni-channel operations. The just-intime operations of the firm have helped it run a highly cost-efficient business, providing strong operating leverage with scale. Over the last one year, it has also built its proprietary social commerce engine that it will integrate with NODWIN’s in-house assets to create a first-of-its-kind ‘Influencer-First’ merchandising engine.

“The Indian gaming and esports industry has witnessed a metamorphic rise in its fan base in recent years. The acquisition of Planet Superheroes will enable NODWIN Gaming to have another strategic touch point with fans that celebrates a common love for all things gaming, pop culture and esports. We believe in increasing the existing offering of global brands to include mega tournaments, Games and even the popular talent and players like Mortal, Samay Raina, Tanmay, Ankit Panth and others,” said Akshat Rathee, Founder and MD, NODWIN Gaming.

“There is huge untapped monetization potential for gaming companies via merchandising and we share a common vision in realizing this potential with PSH joining NODWIN. I believe we will get two immediate wins, a larger consumer base for our existing IPs and a new supply of licenses and partnerships in the gaming industry. I have known Akshat since we met on a Comic Con panel discussion a few years ago and am very excited to join hands to leverage the talent and influencer access that NODWIN can provide us,” said Jaineel Aga, Founder and CEO of PSH.

NODWIN Gaming continues building out its portfolio of offerings to gaming and esports fans in the country. This acquisition adds to its recently acquired minority stake in new-age digital media organization Rusk Media and the acquisition of the gaming and adjacent IP business of OML Entertainment, taking on the BACARDI NH7 Weekender music festival IP, the YouTube fan Festival and gaming talent like Samay Raina and Tanmay Bhat.