Logging in: New career path as esports gain recognition in multisport event

It has been a year since esport was officially recognised as a multisport event in India. For many, it has since become a career option

In the past seven months, Deepak Negi, a 26-year-old resident of Faridabad in Haryana, has made $22,387 (about Rs 18.6 lakh) from online gaming. Similarly, 18-year-old Ashmit Singh from Patna has amassed Rs 50-60 lakh in two years.

Negi and Singh are both esport athletes, each mastering different gaming arenas. While Negi excels in Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), the Indian iteration of PUBG, Singh showcases his skills in Brawl Stars, a dynamic multiplayer shooter game.

While one of them has dropped out of an engineering course to make a career out of esports, the other intends to do 

the same.
 

It turns out that 52 per cent of serious gamers in the country are considering esport as a career, shows the HP India Gaming Landscape Study 2023, which was released last month.
 

The Indian government’s recognition and esport’s  inclusion in major international tournaments are encouraging aspiring players to pursue it professionally, says Lokesh Suji, director, Esports Federation of India (ESFI), and vice-president, Asian Esports Federation. 
 

December 27 marked a year since esport earned official recognition in India as a multisport event. And, from being a demonstration event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, esport became a full-fledged medal event at the 2022 Asian Games. Most recently, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the creation of the IOC Esports Commission to focus on the emerging industry. 

 

Negi was an engineering student specialising in computer science when he stumbled upon BGMI (then PUBG) as a casual gamer back in 2018. He didn’t think it could help him make money. “Initially, it was just for fun,” he recalls. However, his foray into scrims, online gaming sessions where esports athletes sharpen their skills for tournaments, reshaped his career trajectory. 

Known as ‘Sensei’ in the esports universe, he is today a top name among BGMI players in India. A full-time esport athlete, he captains the BGMI roster of Revenant, an esports organisation.
 

Singh, aka ‘Sergeant Clash’, meanwhile, started playing Brawl Stars in 2020, though he was underage for some tournaments. “One shouldn’t do that,” advises the software engineering student from SRM University, Chennai. When he came of age, at 16 in 2021, “I got to join a very good team”. 
 

He captains Revenant’s Brawl Stars team, which represented India at the Brawl Stars World Finals in Sweden this year – a first for an Indian team. Organised by the game publisher Supercell, the finals carried a prize pool of $750,000 (about Rs 6.2 crore). The Revenant team stood seventh, winning $30,000 (close to Rs 25 lakh).
 

Brands punch in
 

Often misconstrued as real-money gaming, esports lies in the realm of competitive online gaming. It revolves around tournaments where diverse teams or individual athletes battle it out within the digital confines of a mobile phone or laptop. To excel, esports demands acute hand-eye coordination, lightning reflexes and 

strategic thinking.
 

Mobile games like BGMI and Brawl Stars have more than 100 million downloads on Google Play Store in India. 

With their popularity among gamers and audiences rising, brands and sponsors are lining up to be part of this new-age and highly watched universe.
 

For instance, in October, the BGMI India-Korea Invitational, an esports tournament organised by game publisher Krafton, was live streamed on JioCinema in 10 languages and had more than 4.6 million views on YouTube. Over 12,000 people, mostly youngsters, turned up at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi where the three-day event, with a prize pool of Rs 1 crore, was hosted. A Korean team won; an Indian team came second.
 

Last October, Puma entered the esports arena, becoming the official kit supplier for Revenant. And in February this year, telecom major Vodafone Idea launched an esports platform within its Vi App for users to participate in tournaments.

Krafton, the publisher of PUBG and BGMI, recently announced plans to invest $150 million in Indian gaming startups in the next couple of years.
 

“The global exposure and the recognition that big sporting events (like Asian Games) provide open up multiple revenue streams for players through brand collaborations, sponsorships and tournaments,” Suji says. 
 

In 2022, India hosted 13 esports tournaments.

Money matters
 

According to EY India, the Indian esports industry was valued at Rs 250 crore in 2021. It is expected to grow to Rs 1,100 crore by 2025, of which the prize pool would account for Rs 100 crore.
 

According to the HP India Gaming Landscape Study, 40 per cent of serious gamers claimed to earn between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 12 lakh annually, with sponsorships and tournaments being significant income sources.
 

Top esports athletes — like ‘Sensei’ and ‘Sergeant Clash’ — also earn a salary of about Rs 1 lakh per month from their organisations, says Wasif Ahmed, public relations manager with Revenant and Skyesports, a tournament organiser.

“It gives them stability so that they can focus on their game instead of chasing the prize pool and endorsements,” he adds.

It is usually the Tier-I, or T1, players who earn a salary. The less skilled ones rely on the prize money. “In India, 10-12 esports organisations have the ability to pay salaries,” says Ahmed.  
 

Esports organisations get a cut of the prize money their players win. They also earn from brand deals, Ahmed says. “The Revenant jersey, for instance, has AMD and Puma branding,” he adds.
 

Endemic brands like Zebronics, HP Omen and Lenovo, non-endemic ones like Mercedes-Benz, Airtel and Puma are among those visible at esports tournaments.

By 2025, India is projected to have over 85 million unique viewers for esports; that’s 10 per cent of the global viewership, the EY report says. 
 

Hanging issues
 

All is, however, not rosy. The money depends on an esports’ popularity, the player’s skill and standing, and government policies.
 

Akshaj Shenoy — ‘Kai’ in the gaming circuit — plays League of Legends, a PC game. He captained the Indian team at the Asian Games in the League of Legends medal event. No brand or sponsor, he says, has reached out to him after the Asiad. 

Shenoy earns just about Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 on an average on winning a tournament. “For games like the League (of Legends), which are not as popular in India, online tournaments are the only option,” he says. “Live streams don’t get a lot of views, and consequently sponsors, so it’s not profitable for the organisers to have a big prize pool.”
 

An economics and human resources graduate from St Joseph’s University, Bengaluru, Shenoy is currently job hunting.” ...(for now) I will put it (esports) aside, but will play whatever tournaments possible,” he says.
 

Regulatory roadblocks also remain. Games like Garena Free Fire and PUBG have faced bans. BGMI, among the 

most popular in India, too was temporarily banned.
 

Such measures, says Ahmed, affect efforts to actively and effectively grow talent. They also make investors cautious.

India, says ESFI director Suji, needs to embed esports in its sports culture, similar to what global esports powerhouses like China, Japan and South Korea have done since the inception of video gaming. “ESFI,” he adds, “is in discussions with the government to include esports in Khelo India,” the initiative to make India a sports superpower.

Negi and Singh are hoping their unconventional careers would have an uninterrupted run.