Technology company Nazara's subsidiary Nodwin Gaming is preparing a game plan for the largest professional esports event in the world--- the Esports World Cup (EWC). Its strategy is to bring India to the centre stage.
EWC 2025 started in the Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh on July 8 and will go on till August 24.
How does it plan to do so? By making Indian players compete in games they are best at--- BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India) and chess. This is how the Esports World Cup will become relevant to India, Akshat Rathee, Co-Founder, Nodwin Gaming, told Moneycontrol.
But what is Nodwin's play in the Esports World Cup? It is the Esports World Cup Foundation's media and marketing partner across South Asia.
By making the tournament more apt for India, Rathee is targeting Rs 100 crore revenue from media rights and sponsorships.
"The esports world always needed a World Cup of sorts because video games or any game title is owned or controlled by a publisher and their own tournaments always take precedence over larger gatherings. While the tournament started last year, it had no games that were relevant to India," he said.
Nodwin's game plan
Working with the foundation, Nodwin has got the winning team of BMPS 2025 (Battlegrounds Mobile India Pro Series), a tournament which is run by Nodwin and game publisher Krafton. "This is the first relevance. Second, the India team is competing in a game which is the most popular in the country. And now we have a hope of a medal. We have also got another game where Indian players are good at - chess. Now, we have two relevant games for India," Rathee said.
He is hoping for a 1983 moment for India at the Esports World Cup. India won the World Cup Cricket title for the first time in 1983.
However, he expects this year to be the foundation of his three-year vision.
So I don't think this year is going to be the outcome that you would very quickly see. But to us, this is a much more foundational three-year-old vision.
"I want to have an Indian champion coming out of the World Cup. The Indian champion should be watched and celebrated. I want the broadcast to be big and across multiple languages in India. For instance, chess is more relevant in the South, but we are not producing it in Tamil right now. I want to be able to produce this in Tamil and Telugu. I also want us to be relevant for the Olympics. Remember, the Esports Olympic is coming in three years' time."
This year, Nodwin did not get enough time for multi-language production and Rathee expects to add more Indian languages from next year.
By localising the World Cup, amping up digital and linear play, Rathee said he will be successful if he can take the media rights and sponsorship revenue between Rs 50 and 100 crore by the end of three years.
Linear amplifying digital
He is betting big on digital. For its flagship IP BGMS, Rathee said they have already broken viewership records.
"We have a million people on YouTube when we run. So, our legitimacy is no longer a question. So, when we do this with Star (now JioStar), the idea is to not beat the viewership of digital because linear will no longer, at least in our space, beat the viewership of digital. It's about legitimacy for people who are above the age of 35. Our linear programme is predominantly the hearts and minds of people who are older---media buyers, parents. This has allowed us to increase the total net value of media rights. BGMS' total media rights value is significantly higher than what we would have done just via digital. Linear is an amplifier and a multiplier for digital. And this is the same formula we will be using for the Esports World Cup," Rathee said.
He added that since this is a build-up phase, he wants to bring a year-long relevance and then sign multi-year deals with sponsors.
BGMS is the only Indian esports tournament to currently air on national television, broadcasting on Star Sports for three consecutive years.
While he sees strong potential for the Esports World Cup in India, he does not think the property will get too big. "It cannot become the IPL of esports. I think it can, at best, go up to the level of the Champions League of football," Rathee said.
Esports World Cup play
The 2024 edition of the Esports World Cup had a $60 million prize pool, saw over 200 clubs from over 100 countries participating. It recorded 500 million online viewers and 2.6 million in-person attendees with 21 game titles.
EWC 2025 will feature 2,000 elite players and 200 Clubs from more than 100 countries, competing in 25 tournaments across 24 games.
While no team or player participated last year, this year, S8UL was selected as a Club Partner by the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF) for the EWC season 2025, a first for an Indian esports team. They were chosen as part of a total of 40 top teams across the world. They competed in the qualifiers of nine titles and have so far qualified to compete in Apex Legends (battle royale-hero shooter video game) and EAFC (a football video game franchise) in this edition. Their chess players Nihal Sarin and Aravindh Chithambaram and Tekken 8 (video game) players Arja Gamoori, also known as Sephiblack, and Nino Schwarz (Nino) will be competing in Last Chance Qualifiers later. The Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) will take place in Riyadh from July 24 to 26 and will serve as the final qualification path for the four remaining spots at the Esports World Cup.
The World Cup, which was officially started in 2024 by the Saudi government, is the successor to a tournament called Gamers8. The Saudi Esports Federation had launched Gamers8, an eight-week gaming and esports festival, in Riyadh in 2022.
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