Scenario Of E-Sports In India

E-Sports also known as Electronic Sports is a form of a competitive platform for electronic games or video games. These are often between professional players either as individuals or as a team.
Though these tournaments have long been a part of gaming culture, it was only with the rise of spectatorship through live streaming platforms, did esports also gained popularity. By 2010, esports became a significant factor in the gaming industry.
The most common genres which are the focus of these tournaments are Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA), First Person Shooter (FPS), Fighting, Cards, Battle Royale, and Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games. Although in the sports world, the legitimacy of Esports as an actual sporting competition, remains a question.

KPMG, a consultancy firm has estimated, that the audience for esports will exceed 130 million by the year 2025 and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) stated that, they will include esports in the Asian Games 2022. Gaming firms like Activision, Garena, and Supercell, which operate on a global platform are eager to invest in India’s e-gaming ecosystem since the ban on PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG). Electronic brands are also increasing their budget for sponsorships for e-gaming tournaments with the highest cash prize of Rs. 1.5 Crore and the lowest prize amount of Rs. 1,000.

Girish Menon, partner and head-media and entertainment at KPMG in India stated that as an aftermath of pandemic esports and streaming witnessed a surge in viewership, multi-gaming platforms, streaming players, and the telecom industry, have started to invest in esports tournaments to engage with their users.

Sai Srinivas, Co-founder, and CEO of Mobile Premier League (MPL) held 400+ speed chess, carrom, and pool tournaments last year saying that as data and devices have become cheaper and more accessible, an incredible number of digital athletes can emerge from India, in the coming 5-6 years. Competitive and skill-based games like Defence of the Ancients (Dota), FIFA, Counter-Strike, or Fortnite are often clubbed together with games like Teen Patti, Rummy, Poker, and Fantasy Sports, which are chance-based games that sometimes also allow players to make real-time money, and thus contributes to the confusion of what can or cannot be classified as Esports.

Governments of many countries in and around Asia like Korea, Denmark, Finland, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Macedonia, Ukraine, Brazil, Russia, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Georgia, South Africa, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, etc have already classified Esports as a sport and put it under the sports framework and policies.
In 2018 when esports was part of the Asian Games in Jakarta as a demonstrative event, India won the bronze medal. India has the potential of becoming the powerhouse for Esports with approximately 300 million Esports enthusiasts. Though, Esports still awaits backing from the Government of India.

By- Deeksha Goyal

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