How This Young Delhi-Based Gaming Company Is Helping The Growth Of E-Sports In India

Esports is still a growing industry in India, but one that's finally starting to gain the recognition it deserves. Part of that is obviously thanks to the gamers willing to put in the time, dedication, and hard work required, but it does require some risks by sponsors and organisers.

Image Courtesy: GamingMonk

One of those in the latter group is Gaming Monk, an esports company based in New Delhi. We spoke to one of their co-founders, Abhay Sharma, to snag some of his insights on Indian gamers, the competitive scene, and what the road ahead holds.

Humble beginnings

GamingMonk is only about four years old, having started out in 2014. At the time, they were just an online marketplace for consoles and the latest games, as well as gaming accessories. But Sharma and his co-founder, Ashwin Haryani, did realise though just how excitable gamers are about shiny new things, so one of the smartest moves they made was to introduce a 3-hour rush delivery service for the biggest launches.

Their other smart move was later stepping into gaming tournaments. "It helped us draw attention to the esports segment and helped us acquire more enthusiastic gamers as customers," Sharma says. "From starting off as an e-commerce marketplace, we are now pivoted to becoming a leading online esports company with a focus on building a community and provide authentic and relevant content to our gamer community."

GamingMonk founders (L) Ashwin Haryani and (R) Abhay Sharma

When asked how that makes them any different than other big-name esports organisers like ESL India and Nodwin Gaming, Sharma is firm. According to him, the esports scene in India is growing at a rapid rate, with players and sponsor companies flowing rapidly. His company's focus then, he says, is to nurture the esports culture and help it grow and flourish to reach an international level.

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"We want them to understand the competitive nature of gaming, and how similar it is to mainstream sports. We want to make more people aware of the benefits gaming and also educate them about career opportunities in esports."

To that end, the gaming community is certainly thriving, as of the past couple of years, and Sharma agrees. At least as far as mobile games and their competitive levels are concerned, he believes PUBG Mobile has played a massive role. Pokemon GO may have had universal appeal, but it's PUBG that's got casual gamers logging on and competing (though at a small scale) on a daily basis. And of course, that's indirectly a product of the telecom pricing war we experienced fairly recently here in India

Image Courtesy: GamingMonk

"It was a well-awaited push for India," Sharma adds, "But still, there is a lot that needs to be done to educate and empower them. We are talking about esports, gaming conventions, cosplays, thousands of spectators and starry-eyed dreams. All of that will come true in another 1-2 years."

Also Read: Not A Child's Play: Indian Gamers Are Getting More Professional, And This Is Just The Beginning

One problem for guys like GamingMonk though, is that the financial situation for organiser is still a little up in the air. Players may have their contracts and prize money (when they can land it) but there really just aren't the kind of spectator audiences you might see at a WCG or ESL International, or the like. As such, esports tournaments in India can't hope to make any money off ticket sales. Instead, organisers earn their keep through game sales at the venue, media rights, advertisements and such.

And GamingMonk aren't the only ones to see the opportunity. We're in the fourth year of the Indian Games Expo (2018), and local teams regularly enter international competitions through the Indian qualifiers of tournaments like Zowie Extremesland and ROG Masters, and the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup. And now another international gaming festival, Dreamhack, is set to come to India for the very first time in December this year.

"We are focusing on building the largest community in India right now. Rest will follow."

To really take a deep look at the professional gaming scene here in India though, the situation seems frustrating. As Sharma is quick to point out, there's always been a taboo surrounding gaming in our country, and it's unfortunately not yet tossed itself into a grave. He is hopeful however that it might be steadily improving.

Image Courtesy: GamingMonk

The fight to play

"Gone are the days when being called a gamer was considered derogatory. Today's gamer is not the stereotypical teen loner playing in his parents' basement. He or she is a co-worker with two kids, the guy at the gym, a fellow volunteer. Through online platforms and social media, fueled by the popularity of esports and innovations in PC gaming rigs, the gaming community is growing in size, diversity and inclusiveness."

Players, he says, are coming to look at esports as a possible alternate career. But then again, he's got high hopes for the people showing up to watch too.

Also Read: 23-Year-Old Gamer From Gujarat Won India's 1st Ever E-Sports Bronze Medal At Asian Games 2018

"Take cricket for example", he explains. "In India has many versions. There's gully cricket, district competitions, state and national level tournaments, and private leagues. We believe, the biggest factor that allowed it to grow to what it is today, was gully cricket. The dream of your next door kid becoming Sachin Tendulkar someday. It all starts at the grassroots level. Sharma agrees that, though the industry is small right now, it's still in its infancy and has a long way to grow.

"I think DOTA 2 might not fare well as much as CS:GO would in India. Having said that, I think It'll take another one to two years to fill up a stadium full of spectators watching an esports event. But all hands of the clock point towards this becoming a reality."

Of course, there are inherent pitfalls along the way, some of which you might never see coming. Cheating players is one of them, especially 'forsaken' most recently. As a part of the OpticIndia roster at the Extremesland Zowie Asia CS:GO 2018, he was one of few players able to represent the country in an international stage in esports. And he was caught red-handed cheating during the pre-finals.

Nikhil "forsaken" Kumawat with his former OpticIndia teammates - Gwyn D'Mello

"Nikhil Kumawat getting caught was quite shocking," Sharma admits. "We could never foresee an incident like this happening at international level. It will surely have an effect on the Indian esports industry and will put a question mark on the credibility of Indian players on the global stage. There is a need for stringent industry regulations and stricter procedures to keep a check on players."

Also Read: How 500 Million Casual & 1,000 Professional Gamers Are Spearheading The Rise Of Gaming In India

The other problem with India's budding esports scene however is a little more subtle than cheaters.

In fact, it's not so much what's there, rather than what's not. Women.

There are plenty of girls and women out there who love to play games for fun. There just seems to be a serious dearth of them in the competitive scene. I've had team managers tell me girls and boys on the same team can be problematic. I've heard theories as to why games like CS:GO don't appeal to them. Not many (of the multitudinous male athletes and managers on the pro gaming circuit) seem to realise the problem is not femininity, but toxicity.

GamingMonk seems to get it, but Sharma says they're hard-pressed to find a solution. "We have been trying to reason this out for quite some time," he says. "In all of our offline events, we promoted free entries and special access to women. We tried different games, as well as women-only events, but only a small group of women came to play.

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One solace here is that he believes PUBG Mobile may have altered the situation a bit. It's obviously still about as hazardous an environment for a woman gaming online. But the sheer reach of the hot new smartphone game, he says, seems to also be drawing in more female players.

Hopefully he's right. After all, we can say we need to grow the industry itself first before balancing the gender scales, but there's no reason esports should grow men-first. Gaming is and should be an activity that draws people together. So grab your friends, whatever the gender, and introduce them to a new game today. You never know if they might secretly be the next Sachin of gaming.