Stimulated by the pace of growth the esports sector is observing in India, Animesh Agrawal, a professional esports player, decided to take his venture a bit further, becoming an entrepreneur instead of limiting himself to only conventional playing. The 25 years of old player have recently launched a gaming talent agency. Hence, he now has to divide the time he spends on esports on global invitation-only tournaments and his gaming talent organization.
Esports tournaments are multiplayer video game competitions conducted in an organized way and are played by professional players as teams or individually. Similar to other athletic events, Esport matches also get broadcasted in real-time for interested audiences.
Showing confidence in esports concurrent growth Agarwal said that as they are very optimistic about the fruitfulness of 2021 for internet-based gaming, they are putting hefty investments in their company.
Agarwal’s three-year advancement from a professional player to an aspiring esports entrepreneur embodies the growth esports have in India, which saw the viewership to get doubled for 17 million last year. Shaking hand with this serge, esports prize pool increased by 25% to 30%, if the industry estimation is considered.
Along with it, the number of online bettors wagering in esports events has also increased by a mentionable rate. Well, it was inevitable since online sports betting sites like NetBet sports have been endowing esports betting admirers with a galore of betting markets on close to all significant esports events with favorable odds and all other necessary facilities.
Like all other world-famous sports like soccer, cricket, and basketball, this sports option comprises its ecosystem. And, players, brand sponsors, platforms where these games get streamed, and organizers of the tournaments maintain this ecosystem’s balance. However, the only dissimilarity such tournaments possess is they can’t be organized without the internet, computers, and other gaming consoles.
In the words of Consultancy KPMG, they have estimated that esports’ audience base will grow even more in the forthcoming years to go beyond 130 billion by 2025. It has recently also gained the pride of getting included in the Asian Games 2022 by the Olympic Council of Asia as a medal sport.
India Angles
Renowned international gaming firms are now coming into line for investing in the thriving esports ecosystem currently breathing in India. Names like Supercell, Garena, and Activision, publishers of popular gaming titles like Clash of Clans, Free Fire, and Call of Duty. They have become more interested in investing in the Indian esports market due to the government-labeled ban on Chinese applications, which forced Indian players to leave playing Player Unknow’s Battlegrounds (PUBG).
Along with declaring, the highest prize pool of esports in India was 1.5 crore. Simultaneously, the lowest of them all was Rs 1,000; the industry executive has also mentioned that electric brands and consumers raise their budgets for sponsoring esports tournaments.
Discussing India’s current esports ambiance, Pocket Aces said that the country is now just a few years behind countries like China and United States. They also added emphasized PUBG created the inception of the market. And, as other publishers have identified it, companies like Activision are getting observed investing. A single note is seemingly getting sung by all of those investors – India has great potential for growth as an esports market.
For the last two years, the Indian esports market has seen esports tournaments sponsored by renowned brands like Qualcomm, Poco, Mountain Dew, Logitech, Coca-Cola, Oppo, Dell, Acer, and Airtel.
Esports has also risen as a viable career option, being powered by growing commercial interests. Nodwin Gaming’s CEO Sidharth Kedia mentioned that even though the advertisement budget was cut short in 2020, the investments in esports have grown. It’s yet another sign of market growth, creating a nurturing ground for setting it for more thrive in the future.
