India’s first-ever franchise-based Esports league, the Esports Premier League (ESPL) has partnered with smartphone maker Infinix Mobile as the title sponsor for its inaugural edition. ESPL aims to revolutionise esports in the country and bring excitement to the mainstream through the nationwide tournament. The tournament wants to tap into the growing landscape of esports in the country to help the competitive gaming community. This segment has received a significant boost in the last year as an increasing number of users are spending time on smartphones for gaming.
Aiming to give the esports ecosystem in India a complete makeover and boost esports and gaming in the Indian market with the upcoming top-notch event, India Today Group, has forayed into esports, and is gearing up to roll out Season 1 of the league from June 16. The league will witness a massive prize pool of ₹25 lakh. It has teamed up with Garena to create an exclusive gaming platform for Free Fire—the most popular battle royale game currently played by gamers and gaming enthusiasts in India. ESPL will enable players from across the country to showcase their skills on this national stage for the first time.
The league will be streamed on multiple platforms including OTT giant Disney+ Hotstar as well as the official YouTube and Facebook channels of India Today and Aaj Tak along with their websites.
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ESPL intends to be the largest platform to discover and nurture new gaming talent across India. As a part of the efforts to push gaming to the mainstream, ESPL will offer all the eight teams and its players a comprehensive media coverage across various media platforms including digital, print, TV and more. This will help upcoming esports professionals gain fame and stardom on par with other conventional sports.
While talking about the launch of Esports Premier League (ESPL) and its association with Infinix Mobile, India Today Group Vice Chairperson, Kalli Purie said, “This pandemic and the resultant lockdown have contributed to propelling the esports industry into mainstream entertainment. India Today’s gaming and esports platform will provide a thrilling experience to its users through a wide range of games, online tournaments, and an opportunity to win exciting prizes. These are very exciting times as smartphone usage continues to grow exponentially and I believe the partnership with Infinix Mobile will help us intensify our mission of taking esports to the next level in India.”
ESPL will be played as a virtual tournament in its inaugural edition and consist of more than 700 online matches with about 300 plus hours of streaming. The Hong Kong-based smartphone giant, Infinix Mobile is keen on pushing the envelope when it comes to the latest and greatest in technology with its upcoming, Note 10 line-up of devices.
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“The Indian online gaming industry is growing at a rate of almost 27% per annum and is estimated to reach $2.8 billion by 2022. The current pandemic situation has further fueled the growth of the gaming industry in India. At Infinix, we are part of this revolution by making devices for the mid-range segment that is feature-rich and enhance the users gaming experience, to further amplify the gaming capability of a user. Our R&D has developed a technology called Darlink which optimizes and improves the performance of a device on several parameters. Our partnership with India Today for the Esports Premier League is just another step towards achieving the same goal. We look forward to a fruitful association and intend to encourage budding talent in this field,” Mr. Anish Kapoor, CEO of Infinix Mobile said while announcing the association.
The tournament, which will be played over a period of two and a half months, will have initial two levels to screen the best eight teams which will progress into the grand finale representing eight cities across the country including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Punjab, and Rajasthan.
Amarylisa Gonsalves is a Content Writer at Gutshot Magazine. Advancing from a marketing background, she found her calling in writing. She takes delight in exploring genres and is a curious learner. Patient and ambivert, she believes in letting her work speak for itself. Apart from content writing, she finds solace in writing poetry by expressing herself through words. Additionally, she adores indulging in anything that satisfies her creative self, like drawing and DIY crafts.
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