Editor: Sushovan Sircar
“During the first week of April, when Ramayan was back on television, immediately after the episode ended at 10 pm, we would see a huge spike (in active users), which made our servers crash,” says Ludo King founder & CEO, Vikash Jaiswal.
Jaiswal has been a busy man during the lockdown period. His mobile-based game has seen a threefold rise in active users since the lockdown commenced, on 25 March.
In a candid conversation with The Quint, Jaiswal said that prior to the lockdown, Ludo King had 13-15 million daily active users. However, since the lockdown began, the app has about 48-50 million users daily.
Ludo King has emerged as a respite for many from the grim realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. The app avatar of the household board game has been among the rare winners amidst the attendant economic crisis brewing in the country.
On Cheat Codes & Patterns
Jaiswal said he plays Ludo King on a daily basis but hasn’t had much success. “For the last three days, I have been losing every single match.”
However, on the question of whether there is any basis to allegations from passionate players regarding cheat codes or rigging, the CEO issued a vehement denial.
“The game’s server does not know anyone. The server simply generates the random numbers on the dice,” said Jaiswal.
“To those who allege that the game is rigged, I want to clearly say that if it is indeed the case or if there are patterns to it, then players will stop playing Ludo King. Nobody will want to make a game which can easily be rigged.”Vikash Jaiswal, Founder & CEO, Ludo King
What Have the Numbers Been Like?
According to Jaiswal, the game has 350 million downloads in total and is the only Indian game to have crossed the 100 million milestone on Google Play Store.
“After the episode of Ramayan would end, our servers would record a lakh players every second,” he said.
To ensure the servers don’t crash under the weight of the huge surge in players, “We had to put up a ‘under maintenance’ notice and worked on it for several days,” added Jaiswal.
Ludo King is also working to introduce two new features:
- Audio chat in private friends mode
- Five and six player options in online mode
Both features are expected to go live by 15 June.
‘We Had To Call The Police’
Given the game’s popularity and dependence on luck, does Jaiswal get requests to share cheat codes?
While the founder has denied the existence of cheat codes to manipulate the game, he admitted that they get many mails asking for such codes.
“My developers and I laugh whenever people say they know hacks to control the outcome of the dice or ensure victory,” he said.
One particular incident that Jaiswal shared illustrates the desperation to win at Ludo King.
“An 18 or 19-year-old-boy had come to our office and insisted we share cheat codes with him because he was consistently losing to his friends. After trying to reason with him, we had to eventually call the police as he just wouldn’t leave.”Vikash Jaiswal, Founder & CEO, Ludo King
“The game should be played as a game and nothing more. One should be careful with sugar intake to ensure one doesn’t get struck by diabetes,” added Jaiswal, advising not to take the game too seriously.
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