Being one of the spearheader of esports in India, NODWIN Gaming has trendset the sector with newer collaborations, partnerships, developments at the right interval. This time the company has gone bolder with its partnership with Star Sports with the mindset to bring esports to the home of sports.
Star Sports is broadcasting the BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA (BGMI) Masters Series tournament from 24 June to 17 July 2022 in Hindi, Tamil and English. The tournament is aired LIVE on Star Sports 2 from the NODWIN Studios, specifically built for large-scale esports tournaments in New Delhi. The participating teams are fighting for a massive prize pool of Rs 1.5 crore.
This move of NODWIN Gaming has been targeted to reach the masses and not just the millennials or GenZ where esports is already popular. In conversation with Animation Xpress, NODWIN Gaming CMO Vishal Parekh expressed that the leap of faith of targeting the sports fans for esports was absolutely necessary to bring in to notice “esports as a sport” therefore can be watched like cricket with other family members.
Parekh shared, “What went behind the collaboration is conviction. Everybody believed that it is a sport and if it is a sport it has to be on India’s biggest sport network, on television and on primetime; not for one or two days but for almost three weeks. If it is a sport, it has to be on TV!”
He believes that there are a lot of audiences who watch sports. Some of them are aware of esports, some of them heard the term esports but have no knowledge and are curious about esports and will finally be introduced to esports through the broadcast of the tournament. Therefore when esports is televised on linear TV, a lot of people will have questions about the format, esports coined terms like MVP and more, and will. be curious to learn how the sport is being played similar to what happens when a new sport is televised for the first time.
Parekh stressed that collaboration will create buzz among all the audience who follows sports on TV and will also tap the casual gamers pool living across the country, showcasing the potential of pursuing a career in esports.
Here is the entire conversation:
