Traditional sports leagues are giving way to e-sports leagues world wide. With the phenomenon gaining traction in India too, mobile games developer Nazara Games is set to launch a professional e-sports league, and plans to invest ₹136 crore ($20 million) to develop the ecosystem.

The firm said the e-sports venture will be a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary company of Nazara Technologies.

“There is a huge traction in the e-sports market globally, and it is only a matter of time before companies start investing in it. We are looking at a niche market,” Manish Agarwal, CEO, Nazara Games, told BusinessLine .

E-sports is a competitive tournaments of video games, especially among professional gamers. The phenomenon turns online gaming into a spectator sport, mimicking the experience of watching a professional sporting event. Instead of watching a physical event, spectators watch video gamers compete against each other.

Recently, Ronnie Screwvala had announced the launch of UCypher, a major e-sports league. It is expected to be launched in March, followed by a linear television broadcast in May. Besides, the Indian Gaming League has also launched its own league which is both online and offline.

Agarwal said e-sports has become a cultural phenomenon in the past few years. “Europe, Korea, China and the US have seen massive growth in the number of players and spectators. Asia-Pacific accounts for 44 per cent of the audience and is the fastest-growing region globally.”

He said with broadband connectivity improving, the company could reach out to a larger audience.

E-sports package

Nazara will work around three major pillars — an online content platform dedicated to the e-sports community, a professional league and a network of pro-teams entirely supported by the company.

The league will provide Indian e-sports fans with live webTV content, guides, forums, online tournaments and extensive and professional coverage of the e-sports scene.

Agarwal said the league will have two seasons a year and will feature six teams that will be selected through open and free online qualifier tournaments.

As per various estimates, e-sports entertain a young and desirable demographic. Its viewership reached 246 million in 2016. According to reports, the global e-sports industry is expected to grow from $493 million in 2016 to $1.1 billion in 2019.

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