Nazara Games to invest $20M in India to revitalize eSports

Nazara Games, a mobile game publishing company has announced to launch an esports league in India. The company plans to invest approximately $20 million (Rs 136 crore) over the next 5 years to develop the Indian esports ecosystem. While esport has taken a backseat in India so far, with this move, Nazara aims to build a ‘vibrant and all-encompassing ecosystem for esports in India’, with a longer term goal of establishing Indian eSports teams which can challenge in the top tier competitions globally across the main titles. “Esports has become a cultural phenomenon in the last few years. Countries in Europe, Korea, China and US have seen massive growth in the number of players and spectators,” said Nitish Mittersain, Founder & MD, Nazara Games.

“Asia-Pacific accounts for 44% of the audience and is the fastest growing region globally. Given, improving internet connectivity in India today, launching an eSports league seemed the perfect way to reach out to the large group of eSports enthusiasts in India,” Mittersain added.

The initial games in the league would include Dota 2 and Counter Strike:GO, with more games to be announced soon. The league will have two seasons per year and will feature six teams that will be selected through open and free online qualifier tournaments.

“The esports league will not only be great for Indian players but also for fans. This platform will provide very extensive and exciting coverage of the Indian esports landscape and will allow fans to track the careers and professional achievements of their esport idols on a daily basis,” noted Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Games.

Participants from India will be able to register online and apply through the website that Nazara plans to launch shortly. Also, progress of all players in the qualification tournament and their progress beyond through Nazara’s WebTV programmes will be tracked by the Indian eSports community. The league will provide Indian eSports fans with live content, guides, forums, online tournaments and extensive coverage of the eSports scene.