Govt’s move to recognise esports to give India global exposure: IESF chief Vlad Marinescu

The government of India recognising esports as an official sport will unequivocally open up the possibilities of recognition and respect Indian gamers deserve and will give global exposure to India, the president of the International Esports Federation (IESF), Vlad Marinescu told Mint. 

The federation is a global organisation based in South Korea to have esports recognised as a legitimate sport. 

This move, he said, will, unequivocally, bring esports at power with other sports and give those players respect and rewards as well as global exposure to India itself. 

The federation has recently tied with Bollywood producer Madhu Mantena and banker and entrepreneur Ravneet Gill-owned Big Bang Media Ventures to launch the inaugural Asia Open Esports Championship (Asia Open) starting January 2023. 

Marinescu referred to this announcement earlier this week when the government amended its rules governing esports and directed both the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Sports Ministry to include it under the category of multi-sports events. 

While they two did not allude to how much investment has gone into the tournament, Marinescu said the idea initially will be to create a positive value and affect change. “India is the world’s second largest esports market. It is central to the future of esports. The target of the first season may not be profitability but to get in more interest from those who are participating as well as sponsors. The Fifa World Cup for instance, wasn’t making any profit for the first 10 editions,” he said. 

Following this, the IT ministry will be the nodal agency for online gaming-related matters and the sports ministry will have to include it in its curriculum. 

Gill of Big Bang Media Ventures said: “Gen-Z is a very experiential generation and gaming is a multi-cultural mega trend. The idea of doing the Asia Open was to bring some of these things to light and bring together gaming communities. We are delighted with the recent government announcement.” 

Parts of gaming have invited judicial scrutiny, for instance in some states, there is a problem with regard to real money gaming. But esports is considered a game of skill and so has been kept out of the ambit.  

“India’s internet penetration is the highest in the world and in the next couple of years and not the next five years, India is going to be one of the main capitals of gaming globally,” said Gill.  

He added that the endeavour was to promote esports in a way that it can be considered as vocational training to make younger Indians ready for jobs of the future.  

According to one report, the number of Indian gamers is expanding at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% and is expected to jump to 700 million in FY25 compared with 507 million in 2021, said the report by Dentsu titled Gaming Report India 2022 - For the Game.