INDIA IS NOW HOME TO WORLD’S NEXT ESPORTS HUB
Teams eat, sleep and stream in training villas as global cheap mobile data the world’s youngest populations and investment pours into India, home to
Next to a primary school and a shabby playground in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, stands a plush four-story building that’s home to the world’s newest breed of athlete. More than 20 young “streamers” in residence spend their days playing video games, training hard for televised e-sports tournaments that draw in millions of viewers. Equipped with bunk beds, cubicles and a kitchen with a full-time chef, the gaming house is one of many popping up around the country, a testament to the explosive growth of an industry that’s attracting investment from around the world.
“We eat, sleep and play under the same roof,” said Animesh Agarwal, founder of Mumbai-based content creator and gaming talent management company S8UL, adding, “When we play bigticket tournaments, it’s all about the mental game. We need to bring teams together to build trust.”
While still in its infancy compared to the US, China and Japan, investors are betting on huge growth in Indian esports, powered by one of the world’s youngest populations and cheap mobile data. Tournaments are attracting huge primetime television audiences, while thousands pack into arenas to watch teams play shooter games on their mobile phones, with the action beamed onto giant screens.
Dubai-based esports firm Galaxy Racer had teamed up with one of Asia’s largest music festivals, Sunburn, to host a three-day tournament last month in Hyderabad, where players of the firstperson shooter game Valorant competed for a prize pool of $100,000. “India’s growing middle class will have more disposable income, which they will spend on entertainment of their choice,” said Akshat Rathee, managing director of Nodwin Gaming, which organised the three-week Battlegrounds Mobile India
INDIA WAS THE LARGEST CONSUMER OF MOBILE GAMES IN THE WORLD THIS FISCAL YEAR, WITH 15 BILLION DOWNLOADS. UNLIKE OTHER GAMING MARKETS WHERE PLAY IS CONSOLEOR PC-BASED, INDIAN USERS ACCESS LIVESTREAMS MAINLY VIA THEIR MOBILE DEVICES
Masters Series tournament earlier this year. “These eyeballs are going to be worth a lot of money,” he said.
The industry, excluding real-money gaming, is expected to grow to $4 billion by the fiscal year ending March 2027, from $1.1 billion in 2022, according to gamingfocused venture capital fund Lumikai. India was the largest consumer of mobile games in the world this fiscal year, topping China and the US with 15 billion downloads, it said. Unlike other gaming markets where play is console- or PC-based, Indian users access live streams mainly via their mobile devices. Thanks to cheap data from wireless carriers such as Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., India is among the highest mobile data users in the world. The nation will have 1 billion smartphone users by 2026, up from 750 million last year, according to Deloitte.
The rollout of 5G in India will give gaming a further boost, according to Sean Hyunil Sohn, the chief executive officer of Krafton India, whose South Korean parent created the hit video game PUBG: Battlegrounds and its Indian version, Battlegrounds Mobile.
The industry does face some difficulties, not least the fact that esports are not officially recognised as a sport, making it more difficult for players to gain visas to take part in international tournaments. There needs to be a clear distinction between esports that require skill and other online “games of chance” such as rummy or poker, according to Lokesh Suji, director of the Esports Federation of India.