Dot9 Games’ latest release, FAU-G: Domination, has rapidly gained momentum, while hitting 1 million downloads in its first 24 hours on the Play Store. We caught up with CEO and co-founder Deepak Ail to discuss the game’s early success, the studio’s vision, and what it takes to build a shooter that resonates with Indian and global gamers alike.
Note: This interview is edited for clarity.
The man behind Dot9 Games and his journey in gaming
Deepak Ail is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dot9 Games, with almost 27 years of experience in the gaming industry. He began his career as a founding member of Indiagames, India’s first gaming studio, eventually leading a 400-person team as Executive Producer. After Disney acquired Indiagames, Deepak held senior leadership roles, including Associate VP, Sales, and Director at Walt Disney India.
In 2013, along with Srinivasan Veeraraghavan, Kaiwan Yezdani, and Prasad Ramdas, colleagues from his Disney days, he founded Roosh Interactive. They developed popular titles like Sniper Death Match and Zombie Bloxx. Since 2022, they’ve been operating as Dot9 Games, with FAU-G: Domination as their latest project.
Strong early reception and a new direction for the FAU-G franchise
Deepak shared his gratitude for the overwhelming player response. “We’re tremendously grateful for the audience reception towards FAU-G: Domination. While the first 24 hours saw us cross a million downloads, players spend an average of 50 minutes a day across multiple sessions. This indicates that FAU-G: Domination is now a part of our audience’s daily habits.”
He added that while the launch was promising, the team is actively working on improvements, having already rolled out one update with quality-of-life fixes like game balance and map optimization. A second update, focusing on player progression and tutorial enhancements, is expected soon.
Deepak explained that the new FAU-G: Domination is designed as a visually striking, performant first-person multiplayer shooter. It blends modern Indian military aesthetics with a touch of near-future sci-fi flair
“The first FAU-G was made by a different team with its own vision for what the IP can be. Moving it to the first-person perspective and focusing on multiplayer felt like a natural progression, after all, multiplayer shooters have the highest mindshare of gamers in India with the playtime to back it up,” he said.
He emphasized that honouring the legacy of the original FAU-G, downloaded over 45 million times, was critical. Player focus remains central, with post-launch efforts dedicated to stability, new content, and events.
Applying lessons from the original FAU-G
Reflecting on the first FAU-G’s launch, Deepak highlighted the importance of “show, not tell.” The team chose to focus communication on tangible gameplay clips and in-game visuals, building trust with their community through pre-registration phases, closed betas, and transparent updates.
Deepak said the game’s compatibility with mid and low-end Android devices was paramount. “Most players in India use devices priced between Rs. 15,000 and 20,000, so the game had to run smoothly on that hardware range. We would not have shipped if this were not possible. Thankfully, the team was up to the challenge.”
He stressed that core gameplay polish was equally vital: “Most importantly, it was getting the core gameplay right. The entire loop of loading in, shooting, traversal, and into the next match, as well as polishing it, was critical. It proved to be the right bet with players rating us at 4.4 stars on Google Play.”
New features and Indian theme talks
Deepak pointed to the introduction of custom rooms, which allow players to host matches with unique rules like one-shot kills, sniper-only modes, and adjustable game speeds. Early feedback has been positive.
“While these, along with a solid gameplay loop, helped us with casual gamers, now the intent is to get competitive players in. These include building features like our clan system, events, in-game rewards, and more. We believe this would help get new players in that are looking for something with a more competitive streak to it,” he explained.
Despite its Indian theme, Deepak believes gameplay is universal. “FAU-G: Domination has the potential to be a global success story. We intend to ensure we’re best positioned to take advantage of the demand for a mobile first-person multiplayer shooter. So while our core gameplay loop is validated, we are also aware that international audiences are less forgiving of any in-game issues.”
Laying the foundation for esports
Deepak sees esports as a key growth area, particularly given India’s massive shooter and battle royale player base, largely from tier 2 and 3 cities and primarily, with around 70 percent of them, young males aged 18 to 35.
“What’s fascinating is that we’re seeing purchases happening in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. What’s more is, monetisation is happening in those states that have representation in-game, be it in the form of a playable character or a map. As we expand the game’s scope, we hope to see more of this across the board,” he noted.
As Dot9 expands the game’s content and community features, they aim to foster a competitive esports ecosystem that reflects their player base.
