As a sector of organized, competitive video gaming, esports in India is gaining traction. Esports in India has emerged as the latest frontier for gamers and players alike to demonstrate their worth in organized tournaments on global platforms due to the country’s large youth population and rapid adoption of mainstream gaming. Numerous players in India compete in local, regional, and international esports tournaments, causing the industry to expand rapidly.

For the fiscal year 2021, the esports industry in India generated approximately 2.5 billion Indian rupees in revenue. Following the authority “conferred by clause (3) of article 77 of the Constitution,” our President Droupadi Murmu requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Sports Ministry to include Esports in multi-sport events in a notification issued on December 23.

In India, the esports scene began with smaller LAN tournaments that were put on by local groups of enthusiastic gamers looking to demonstrate their gaming abilities.

These informal competitions laid the groundwork for the rise of well-known video games like Counterstrike (CS: GO) and Dota 2 now constitute the Indian esports community’s foundation.
The Esports industry has gained much traction over the past few years among gamers of all ages who want to become professional gamers because these major tournament organizers hold regular events throughout the year. The number of esports players in India was approximately 150 thousand in the fiscal year 2021, nearly twice as many as in 2020. With the official recognition of esports announced on December 23, this growing trend is anticipated to expand exponentially.

Esports has also seen a surge in viewership, with thousands of devoted fans supporting their favorite teams during live-streamed tournaments on a variety of platforms, including YouTube Gaming and ESPN2. Professional players and business owners alike have benefited greatly from the burgeoning popularity of esports. Through a variety of online Electronic Sports Leagues (ESLs), players and fans alike can put their skills to the test against other promising athletes from around the world.

Large-scale offline events like DreamHack and the ESL Gamers World Championship, which draw thousands of participants from around the world, have been organized by professional esports companies like NODWIN Gaming.

Investors have begun to recognize the enormous potential associated with the growth trajectory of esports in India and around the world, which has resulted in investments in market infrastructure like dedicated studios and even the formation of teams.
A few months ago, well-known companies like Reliance Jio announced that they were offering colossal sponsorships and cash prizes; indicating a significant shift in this sector toward mainstreaming and commercialization.

Around 9.3 billion Indian rupees were invested in India’s esports industry during the fiscal year 2021. The investment was also anticipated to rise to 11 billion rupees by the fiscal year 2025. This year’s projections also predicted that nearly 85 million people would watch esports events on 20 different platforms. Source: Statista) In 2013, the United States of America became the first nation to recognize esports as an official sport and to accept gamers as athletes. South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, France, Spain, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Germany, Austria, Finland, Ukraine, Thailand, Nepal, Monaco, Italy, Brazil, Nepal, Turkmenistan, Macedonia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Serbia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Georgia, among other nations, have recognized esports as regular sports. As more and more nations begin to recognize esports in some way, this list continues to expand.

Additionally, esports has opened doors to exciting career opportunities in the gaming industry as a whole. Qualified individuals can become professional gamers themselves, but they can also actively contribute to the development of breakthroughs in game development and user experience design technologies from established startups, gaming studios, and developers. They can even apply for jobs in these companies related to marketing, communications, business operations, and other areas. We might soon witness broad-based innovative use cases that are made possible due to increasing demand and rising investments pouring into this sector, placing it on par with any traditional sporting activities at scale and posing an obvious business potential by size. In the end, this sector is closely aligned with evolving technological trends and possesses obvious business potential. The recent move by India to include esports as part of multi-sports is the most effective way to allow this industry to flourish, where players can enjoy esports responsibly and safely while deterring unscrupulous operators. Esports is considered a medal sport at the Olympics and Asian games.

In conclusion, what started as just another hobby activity has grown into a billion-dollar industry because of its enormous popularity and rapidly expanding user base. Every day, talented people compete eagerly, exploring every unexplored path, indicating a bright future.

Credit: The Sunday Guardian