Asiaville launches India's first interactive gamified show

CHENNAI: With the advancement of AI technology, the boundaries for exploration have widened, particularly in the entertainment sector. The possibility of the audience directly impacting a narrative is becoming a reality of late. Asiaville, a media tech company based in Chennai and Kochi, has introduced India’s first interactive gamified show, enabling the audience to actively participate within the narrative. Tuhin Menon, CEO of Asiaville, says “The consumption of content has always been passive for the audience, just a linear flow. We wanted to build something innovative and, at the same time, qualitative that would be categorised as long-term entertainment. That’s when we arrived at the intersection of content and gaming"

Asiaville, an entertainment outlet focused on Gen Z content, secured the patent rights for Ayevee Interactive and Gamified Experience (AIGE) last year. They started by experimenting with live interactive detective shows, allowing the audience to choose between options like A or B. The CEO says, “For the first live show based on interactive features, we saw a spike in audience engagement like never before. However, the live show offered limited opportunities for exploration. That’s when we decided to enhance the format with proper pre-production value and present it on a larger scale.”

They launched two shows: ‘Who Killed Kavitha’ in Tamil and ‘Let Me Out’ in Malayalam. The Tamil show centers around the classic whodunit storyline, with interactive features used as tools to drive the narrative forward. In contrast, the Malayalam show incorporates more gaming elements with a storyline similar to ‘Squid Game’. “The challenging part was balancing both content and interactive features in the right measure. Our tech team was closely embedded with the content team. The entire process of making these two shows took us 45 days," he adds.

Shedding light on the future, Tuhin aims to add a different dynamic to the same show—an alternative narrative for every choice the audience makes, to enhance engagement. The team is also exploring various genres in this format, including romance, drama, and action. He also believes that AIGE will become a mainstream phenomenon in the near future. “It doesn't replace any format. The audience for the existing ones will remain the same; this new format will be an addition for them.”

The team currently has four shows in the pipeline, which will be released by next month. “Some OTT platforms have also approached us for a collaborative idea, but talks are in the early stages. We are also working with the Electronic Sports Authority of Tamil Nadu (ESAT) to enhance gaming in the state, and as part of it we are jointly hosting an event at IIT-Madras on August 31, ” Tuhin notes.

AIGE is now streaming on the AyeeVee app, available for Android and iOS users.