For most teens who are into gaming, the lockdown has been the time when their parents have not been able to tell them, “Stop playing on that mobile!” Many of them are putting this extra practise to use in the upcoming ESL India Premiership. With tournaments in PUBG, FIFA, Clash of Clans and CS:GO, the fifth edition features a prize pool of ₹1.15 crore. While playoffs have been conducted over the past few days, the final rounds are taking place from June 15 to 17.
Virtual LAN party
As most IRL sporting events stand cancelled for the foreseeable future, esports has garnered a lot of interest over the past few months. Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of Nodwin Gaming, which organises the tournament, says this has reflected in the number of people signing up. Declining to share exact figures, he says, “It has gone up from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands — it is over a 300% hike on our 2019 summer season.”
This sort of event gives gamers from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities an opportunity to compete on an equal footing with people from across the country. Comparing the rise of esports to the evolution of cricket, he says, “We’re in our T20 phase! In India, especially with the wider reach of mobile data, talent can be found anywhere.” Like Paridhi Khullar, a 21-year-old digital marketer from Indore, who, as Rav3n, is one of the top PUBG streamers in the country.
With no traditional sports telecasts, Rathee says they have had up to six lakh concurrent viewers for some of their most recent matches. As for their bussiness model, he explains, “We depend on corporate sponsorships for income, and not on registration fees from participants: all our events are free.” They also do not rely on advertising, instead selling the media rights — their media partner is Disney+ Hotstar, where all matches will be streamed.
