Not only Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or even Neeraj Chopra, but the younger generation is finding its sporting heroes beyond the regular field, in the virtual world. Perhaps also a reason why esports has become stable within the forthcoming Olympics besides the Asian Games. The total online gaming industry is expected to reach the Rs 388 billion mark by 2026, as per the recent FICCI-EY report. Of this esports and casual games market was valued at Rs 3,800 crore in 2023 and is expected to reach Rs 4, 600 crore by the end of this year. Gaming event IP will come into being, in the form of esports leagues, national online gaming events and multigame platforms where gaming will be united with social interaction and commerce, stated the report.
Krafton Esports India’s Battlegrounds Mobile India which replaced PUBG, from what it seems has managed to draw users’ attention. The company which organises BGIS, claimed it to be India’s biggest battle royale e-sports tournament for the third consecutive year.
The company’s revenue from operation rose 85.05% to Rs 43.57 crore in FY23 from o Rs 23.54 crore in FY22 as per the regulatory filings filed by Tofler. Moreover, the company’s net loss widened 7x to Rs 4.3 crore from 50.58 lakh FY22. In a conversation with Brandwagon Online, Karan Pathak, associate director – esports , Krafton Inc., spoke revenue generated from e-sport events, return on investments (ROI) in social media, gender ratio parity in esports, among others.(Edited excerpts)
How does the revenue model works for you between ticketing , elite pass, sponsorships?
For us, esports events are marketing activities for competitiveness. Recently, esports have been added to traditional sports and the ministry has approved it as a regular sport. So for us, we are putting in the money into developing the grassroot level when it comes to building the esports ecosystem in the country. Revenue comes from our partners like IQOO. There are other partners also but unfortunately this time they couldn’t sign up with us but surely we will join hands for the next event. They want to reach out to our audiences for their brand and that’s how we partner via sponsorship model. As for ticketing this time passes have been sold with an intention to give it to Abhinav Bindra Foundation.
How do you calculate ROI from your outdoor and social media campaigns ?
As esports in India today is at a nascent level, you can’t expect ROI from there. It is all about development of the ecosystem. So if now we are able to do such branding, our competitors would also have to do a lot to reach at our level. For others, it might look like an expense where they need returns, but for us this is a long term investment.
How does the format work for esports players – do they need to pay for registration? What about taxation?
Registration is completely free, it started from March and anybody could register themselves and participate. All that was needed was four players. Before this final round a total of eight rounds took place . The final 16 teams eliminated others and came straight to Hyderabad. The total prize pool is Rs 2 crore. From this prize pool, 60 lakh will go to the winner who bagged the first position and then it would be distributed to others. There are no regular taxes or GST which is deducted. This is a prize they receive that has 30.1% TDS which is deducted.
Which state or region accounts most players in esports section? What are your plans to take esports to tier-2 cities?
In this year’s BGIS finale, there are 16 teams. Currently Mumbai is dominating, a total of five teams are from that city. We organised BMPS (Battlegrounds Mobile India Pro Series) in Ahmedabad last year. Last year we organised BGIS in Mumbai as well. Slowly but surely we are trying to organise such tournaments in different parts of the country. Basically, tier-2 cities lack the infrastructure to host a mega-event like BGIS or BMPS. But if our fans want, if they show interest, we can definitely organise these tournaments in tier-2 cities.
What is the gender ratio of e-sports players who play BGMI ? What are your plans to add more female players?
It’s more male players at this moment but the female players are already motivated. Few of them qualified to round three also and they are as good as male players but the guys are slightly better. There are other tournaments taking place for females only. Krafton officially allows others to conduct those tournaments. When we are looking at grassroot level development and widespread participation, organising an all women tournament will be unfair to all the male audiences which are higher in number. This is the reason why we organise these large scale tournaments where everybody participates.