Indian Esports suffered a lot in 2022. It featured several legal reforms to online gaming, as well as government suspensions of Battlegrounds Mobile India and Free Fire. But despite everything that happened, India returned to the global stage with pride and strength.
Global Esports selected them for the VALORANT Asia-Pacific league. Even more, Indian players achieved awards in Dota at the Commonwealth Esports Championship.
2022, A Challenge
With Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) returning to the scene, it became the highlight of the 2022 Indian gaming industry. It led to the broadcasting of the game on prime-time Indian television. Even more, it broke records with an astounding 12.3M views in the tournament’s first eight days.
However, just like a rollercoaster ride it had ups and downs. The government blocked BGMI and Free fire from Indian app stores. This led to a major downfall in viewership because the two are the most popular games in the country.
The government also received a ton of backlash from players and individuals who loved playing the games.
A New Start for Indian Esports
Alternate games have emerged in light of the problems Indian Esports is having. Though potential replacements emerged like VALORANT and New State Mobile, the industry still faces many obstacles.
Plenty of people wonder if these titles will have the same impact as the two other titles. They also ask if they can save Indian Esports from crumbling.
The BGMI Series was one of the successful tournaments that NODWIN Gaming broadcast and organized. It also received 12.3M views in the first eight days of the competition (24 June to 1 July). According to NODWIN, the BGMI Masters Series received a total of 34.33M views and 5.43M hours of watch time on Loco.
Additionally, the organization hosted the Battlegrounds Mobile India Showdown. It attracted 314.4K peak concurrent viewers and over 2.5 million total viewing hours.
Tesseract Esports enjoyed success in 2022 as well, hosting several BGMI competitions in collaboration with Krafton. The Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021 was the most streamed Indian esports event of the year. It also peaked at 460,000 concurrent viewers.
VALORANT Viewership in India Esports
Although VALORANT also had noticeable viewership, it was lower than battle royale games. The top three VALORANT competitions by hours watched include:
- VALORANT India Invitational by Galaxy Racer
- VALORANT Conquerors Championship by NODWIN Gaming
- AMD Skyesports Champions Series by Skyesports
VALORANT is the only game with sufficient appeal to eventually unseat BGMI. Although its viewership numbers pale in comparison to BGMI’s, the game is being widely adopted in India. It’s all thanks to some local tournaments listed on Riot’s official off-season calendar and a large number of content producers.
We can see how every tournament affects the game’s popularity and eSports viewership. Different companies find ways to give players and audiences an unforgettable experience through gaming. Hopefully, Indian Esports will continue to thrive.
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