Esports in India is growing exponentially, as more and more athletes joining the esports fraternity, new users started consuming esports and esports content and brands entering as a sponsor making it one of the fast growing sector which has the potential to become more than billion dollar business in India.
It is true that, investors from all around, target to tap India because of its market size and diversity. At this moment one of the crucial thing is to regulate the entire esports industry under governmental norms to build more awareness and knowledge of the esports sector. Despite having worldclass potential, Indian esports sector is not at top totally while competing globally because of the proper regulations.
In fact today, a lot companies are misinterpreting esports with real money gaming or fantasy sports or rummy and poker and so on. Therefore, for esports sector a proper guideline or rulebook is essential for the growth and deciding factor for the future of the sector. In January 2021 Esports Federation of India rolled out a written piece titled as a “Esports Vs Fantasy Vs Gaming Vs RMG”.
The written piece has cleared the difference between esports and fantasy sports which is often most misunderstood by people. As shared with AnimationXpress first it reads “Esports is based entirely on a fictional world and solely on your own skill while in fantasy sports it depends less on your own skill but largely on the skill (performance) of that third person whom you selected to be in your team and you have no control to effect the performance or skill of this third person, whereas in esports since it’s you and you only, you yourself control the virtual character (basically it’s you only playing virtually), hence you are directly effecting the performance, skill or the outcome which is not dependent of any luck or chance (its purely and solely dependent on your own skill).”
Not just that today, Esports has been recognised by several countries as such (Korea, Russia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Finland and so on) . Last December in Muscat Oman esports has been officially declared as a medal sport for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games during the 39th General Assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) . Not just that earlier “India also won a bronze medal in Asian Games-2018 where esports was a demonstration title and will be a medal sport in upcoming Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games-2021 (Thailand). Basically, it is competitive video game playing, coordinated by different leagues, where players participate in group gaming competitions. Viewers can watch professional gamers compete against each other in a variety of games,”added the written piece .
This is not enough to recognise esports as a sport in India as the Ministry of Youth & Sports Affairs or the Indian Olympic Association yet to give a nod.
According to ET report All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) CEO Roland Landers says, “esports will be a medal sport at the 2022 Asian Games and there is a need to put in place a progressive regulatory structure to support the Indian athletes and companies.”
Recently International Olympic Committee (IOC) has partnered with five International Sports Federations and game publishers to launch the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series (OVS). National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) along with MPL is working towards bridging the gap between virtual shooting and the real-world sport, therefore it will help to propagate esports in India and identify talent and help groom prospective champions with the the first e-shooting game.
“We welcome the IOC’s move to introduce virtual esport versions of real world physical sport in the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series. We are sure this will encourage people to take up these sports virtually and potentially chart a way for them to emerge as champions in the physical sport”, said NRAI president Raninder Singh.
The future of esports in India is entirely dependent on the clarity of regulations which further might help esports organisations and players to attract investors and sponsors in the sector .And the driven capital further help the esports athletes to focus on their health and wellbeing, hiring better esports coach, physiotherapist, which will further reflect in their performance while competing globally.