Econet Wireless has started piloting mobile games on 100 000 randomly selected customers, ahead of full commercial launch at the end of the month.
The pilot follows the successful launch of Elevate Gaming, unveiled at the inaugural Elevate Gaming Tournament two weeks back.
“We are pleased to announce this new phase in our rollout of subscription-based mobile games,” said Ms Mellany Mariri, General Manager for Marketing at Econet Wireless Zimbabwe.
“The gaming platform will be available to 100 000 randomly selected customers over the next two weeks, with our full commercial launch targeted for the end of the month,” Ms Mariri said. She added that for the pilot phase, the games would only be accessible to Android mobile device users, with iOS (Apple) devices coming on board in time for the commercial launch.
“Over 2 000 games are available on the mobile gaming app, ranging from racing, sport, action, adventure, puzzles, strategy and much more,” Ms Mariri said, explaining that the first 100 000 pilot customers would receive an SMS notification with a download link to the mobile app.
She said the company was offering the first 3 days of the pilot phase as a FREE subscription.
“The first 3 days are absolutely free. Thereafter, customers will be charged on an auto-renewal basis of RTGS $0.50c per day, RTGS $2.50 per week or RTGS $4 for the monthly option,” said Ms Mariri.
“Once subscribed to the package of their choice, customers become automatically registered for the VIP access, which entitles them to a guaranteed 20 percent discount on any in-app purchases they make,” Ms Mariri said. She said customers would be billed from their main airtime account balances.
According to Ms Mariri, Econet has been working closely with its Elevate youth segment and with mobile gaming content providers to develop products that are tailor-made for this market.