Reliance Jio took its first steps into the Indian esports industry by announcing a Free Fire tournament called the Jiomart Gamethon. The company set up an esports division more than a year ago but this is the first public announcement made with a plan to venture into this sector.
The tournament will tie in with Diwali celebrations in India, the largest festival in the country. This is the first in a series of esports events that are to be conducted on the JioGames platform.
The Free Fire tournament will be held from 30 October to 1 November and will have a live broadcast via YouTube and also via JioTV, according to a support page created for the tournament.
The competition will have a prize pool of Rs 25,000 with the winning team getting Rs 16,000, followed by Rs 12,000 for the runner-up, and Rs 1,000 for the most valuable player. The money will be credited to the players’ JioMart wallet. This will be a mobile-only tournament, and tablets, triggers, emulators, and more won’t be allowed.
The gaming tournament will begin on 30 October and will have four rounds with 576 teams. Each team can have 4 players.
Only 96 teams will get qualified for the quarter-finals, and out of these, 24 teams will go into the semi-finals. For the fourth round, only 12 teams will be hosted in a single lobby with three maps for the grand finale.
Earlier, the company was heavily linked as one of the partners PUBG Corp. was negotiating with to bring PUBG Mobile back to India, but no new information has surfaced since then. PUBG Mobile was banned by the Indian government in September.