Why India’s eSports Scene is in the Ascendancy

According to a Forbes report published in 2018, India has the 16th largest gaming market in the world, with a total revenue of $1.17 billion dollars. This means that gaming within the country is big business, with an extensive and eager audience to tap into.

Unsurprisingly, India also has a rapidly growing eSports scene, with competitive and organized video gaming increasingly attracting interest. Bringing together competitors from around the globe, its tournaments draw an international audience.  

Not only this, but an increasingly lucrative gambling scene is springing up around these competitions, with the sport proving so popular in India that bookmakers themselves are beginning to sponsor individual teams and tournaments.

We take a look at the factors behind the industry’s rapid growth.

eSports in India

While eSports may seem like the most modern of inventions, they have actually been around for almost five decades, since the very first Stanford University students competed at Spacewar in 1972.

Fast-forward 48 years, and the pastime has a significant and growing following, with an estimated global worth of around $1.1 billion. Bringing together gamers from around the world, it draws huge audiences, with Fortnight, Call of Duty, and Counter Strike numbering among the most popular titles.

As eSports’ popularity grows, so too does its worth and worldwide reach, so it’s little surprise that India is among the latest slew of countries to fall to its charms. As one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, it has a population of 1.3 billion people, many of them with more disposable income than they have ever had before.

Increasingly seen as a mainstay on the global economic stage, India houses several eSports’ startups, including Cobx Gaming, FanMojo, and JetSynthesys, which has contributed to the development of a highly investor friendly arena.

As a result, India currently ranks 17th in the global eSports industry, with many of the country’s newly flush citizens eager to place bets on high-profile tournaments and challenges. Indeed, many of the best gambling sites in India now offer odds on the sport, with the numerous attractive bonuses that are available making participation much more easily accessible.    

Why the country’s eSports industry is in the ascendancy

These factors have laid the ideal foundations for India’s eSports industry to continue growing, but they’re not the only pieces at play. In addition, the country is seeing a rapid rise in professional gamers, inspired in part by Gujarat’s Tirth Mehta.

The first Indian citizen ever to take home a medal from the Asian Games, Mehta finished in third in 2018, claiming bronze, and has set an example to many other aspiring gamers within the country since.  

On top of this, much work has gone into making participation more inclusive, with the sector going to great pains to improve its overall infrastructure and accessibility. These efforts have been further stimulated by the ever-increasing purchasing power of consumers, which has helped to significantly boost the number of gamers taking part, at a professional as well as hobby level.

The result is that India’s future within the eSports industry has never looked brighter, with the country all set to rise through the ranks and continue its impressive ascendancy to the very pinnacle of the competitive gaming world.