We are looking at more gaming and non-gaming IPs next year: Akshat Rathee

The esports market has seen exponential growth in the recent past. As a front-runner in the space, NODWIN Gaming is bullish about the ever-growing and lucrative esports market.  Flush with funding from KRAFTON, NODWIN Gaming has been busy putting to good use of the money. Recently, it acquired the content and IP business of OML and is committed to launching bigger and better IPs across key markets of India, South Asia and Africa, says Akshat Rathee, Co-founder and MD at NODWIN Gaming, which recently partnered with FSDL to introduce eISL, which will be an official FIFA 2022 Global.

“We have just announced one of the biggest IPs in the entertainment space – the Bacardi NH7 Weekender festival. We are building gaming content IPs with our investment into Rusk Media. We also have several other announcements in the pipeline which we are looking forward to,” he says, during an interview with Adgully. Excerpts:

How big is India’s esports market and how is this shaping the digital content streaming industry? Will it surpass the traditional sports in terms of advertising, audience reach, etc.?

As per the latest industry estimates, India’s esports market was around Rs 3 billion in FY2021, and is expected to reach around Rs 11 billion by FY2025. As you can see, the potential of gaming and esports in the country is huge. Already, this year, we have seen the umbrella of esports expand to include a variety of digital platforms with new IPs and collaborations happening even in the non-gaming space. So, the next decade is going to be very exciting for the sector’s growth.

Though esports has picked up the fancy of the youth in India, especially in the last two years, it is still at an intermediate stage with tremendous potential to equate or even surpass the fan hysteria and advertising reach associated with India’s most loved traditional game – cricket.

What are NODWIN’s plans post-funding from Krafton? Do you plan to expand to more markets?

Yes. Since March, we have been busy putting to good use the funding that we received from KRAFTON. We are committed to launching bigger and better IPs across our key markets of India, South Asia and Africa. Recently, we acquired the content and IP business of OML.

We have just announced one of the biggest IPs in the entertainment space – the Bacardi NH7 Weekender festival. We are building gaming content IPs with our investment into Rusk Media. We also have several other announcements in the pipeline which we are looking forward to.

What are the upcoming tournaments lined up? Do you plan to have more IPs in 2022?

We have partnered with FSDL to introduce eISL, which will be an official FIFA 2022 Global. The eISL 2011-2022 features a prize pool of Rs 74 lakh for the top teams and Rs 4 lakh for the best performing player. We also had a great time with the Chess Super League (CSL) with Samay Raina and Sagar Shah, which we look to continue.

We are looking at more gaming and non-gaming IPs next year, following our acquisition of the Bacardi NH7 Weekender IP and Dreamhack Hyderabad is also happening in 2022.

How competitive is the market? And what are your strategies to stay ahead of competition?

The e-sports market has grown phenomenally in the last couple of years, and, needless to say, so has the competition. There is phenomenal work being done by The Esports Club, Sky Esports, ESPL and others. What this does is diversify the market and increase the pie for everyone. As a market leader, we continue to support the ecosystem for all of us to grow as a rising tide lifts all ships.

What are the trends that would shape the industry in 2022? What are your projections for the industry? 

Technology will lie at the heart of all the trends that will shape the esports sector next year. We will see more clarity on how AI and immersive VR can be used to better the gaming experience. We might see bigger investments being pumped into the sector, more genres of games and innovative gaming and non-gaming IPs make their way in. People will jump on the meta and the Play2Earn models.

Same for more non-endemic brands lending their name to live esports events and tournaments. Things are going to heat up next year after an absolutely smashing 2021.

How do you deploy AI in the arena of e-sports streaming? Going forward, how will VR and AI change the face of esports?

AI is already being fully utilised to collect massive amounts of data from esports matches. In its early stages, Machine Learning has had a significant impact on the competitive landscape.

In Dota 2, we saw the first impressions of OpenAI with a bot player mimicking a human player and mapping their gameplay accordingly. Consider the level of precision that a player would achieve when competing against a self-learning bot.

As of now, VR integration with esports is in its early stages and is not entirely commercially viable. We have yet to test it on a larger scale.

The e-sports segment still lacks government-level recognition in India. This apart, what are the other key challenges that plague the segment? And what are the solutions?

The biggest challenge for us currently is to prepare a strong foundation on which the esports sector can smoothly and seamlessly take off in the years to come. I am talking about state-of-the-art virtual and physical infrastructure for our players as well as all the other parties involved, be it our partners, advertisers or the entire esports ecosystem.