In its efforts at boosting the gaming culture in India, popular youth portal & online destination Indiatimes has partnered with France based Games-Services (formerly Ligarena) to kickstart the India leg of the Electronics Sports World Cup (ESWC), which is currently in its 4th edition.
Positioned as the e olymics, ESWC is one of the world’s largest gaming competitions. This year 800 participants from over 50 countries will participate at the finals in Paris from June 28 to July2. Total cash prizes amounting to US$400,000 and an estimated 40,000 strong live audience besides the millions of gaming fans that would access the event coverage via various media.
The other such competition (in terms of content and scale) that comes to mind is the World Cyber Games which are organized by Korea based ICM.
The India leg of ESWC kick-started on 16 May at Kolkata and will move to various cities including Chennai, Indore, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai and New Delhi. Participants will compete in games such as Counter Strike, Quake 4, Pro Evolution Soccer, Track Mania Nations and Warcraft III for the prelims.
Two finalists from each city for each game will get an NVIDIA 7300 GS graphic card and will qualify for the National Finals which will be held in New Delhi on June 10. Ten National Winners will be flown to Paris for the Grand Finals by Indiatimes.
Speaking to Animation ‘xpress, Sukamal Pegu, Indiatimes Gaming – Business Head, said “The month long event is expected to attract around 30,000 gamers in India. The Electronics Sports World Cup would be the foundation of a long-term partnership between Indiatimes and the caf?© chains covering many gaming events and online gaming services”
“We at Indiatimes believe that the gaming revolution in India is going to follow the trends of China where gaming caf?©s popularized gaming with the masses. Icafes in India already have the infrastructure in place to meet the demands and we help them in driving traffic to their facilities through our offerings and media power” he added.
Indiatimes’ has partnered with regional Gaming caf?© partners which would act as regional venues for the city prelims, as well as handle the local promotion for the event. These include Websoft Cyber Caf?© and Sify game drome in Kolkata; Zap Internet & 3D Game Centre in Chennai; level 2 in Indore; XSG (XS Gaming) in Bangalore; E- Fun & E-Play in Ahmedabad; Diginet Digital Experience Zone in Hyderabad; Gamers Anonymous and Diamond; GameSpace, H-zone and gamers HQ in Mumbai; Modern School auditorium, Vasant Vihar, in New Delhi which will also double up as the venue for the finals.
Players can register for the prelims at respective venues for a sum of Rs.100 per head for each game. Registrations can also be done one day prior to the event. Participants below the age of 16 will not be allowed to represent India at the Grand Finals in Paris and will have to be replaced by the team with a player above 16 years of age.
Nvidia is the Main and Worldwide partner for ESWC while Intel is the India partner for EWCS, India. Other partners include Orange, Fnac, Sony Playstation and Logitech.