Reliance-backed Rise Worldwide on Wednesday said that it had formed a joint venture (JV) with a subsidiary of Denmark-based BLAST, to enter the domestic e-sports market. The move is significant, since India’s esports market is projected to touch $9.2 billion by 2029 from $3.8 billion now, growing at 19% per annum. India already has about 18% (600 million) of the world’s total gamer base, which is projected to double in the next few years.
“With this JV, Reliance will extend its interest in sports into e-sports and leverage Rise’s ability to market and promote sporting events and teams, along with Jio providing its distribution and technology expertise,” said Devang Bhimjyani, head of Reliance Sports.
BLAST is a one of the biggest e-sports tournament organisers in the world, working with leading game publishers such as Epic Games, Valve, Krafton, and Ubisoft, among others.
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The JV entity will bring BLAST’s e-sports media production expertise, publisher relationships, popular IPs, and Reliance Jio’s technology expertise, distribution reach, and local relationships to host events on the JioGames platform.
“India is one of the most exciting gaming markets in the world, with a rapidly expanding e-sports audience and appetite for more competitive gaming experiences. By partnering with Reliance, we have a unique opportunity to elevate the local e-sports scene,” Robbie Douek, CEO, BLAST, said.
The global e-sports market is expected to touch $16.7 billion by 2033 from $2.8 billion in 2024, growing at the rate of 22% per annum. By then, the Indian gaming market will constitute about 60% of the overall market, experts said. The Government of India has already recognised esports in the country by declaring it as a part of the “multi-sports event” category, experts added.
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