Esports Integration: The Convergence of Skill-Based Gaming and Competitive Sports
5 Dariya News
05-Mar-2024
Skill-based games enthusiasts are familiar with poker and rummy apps that dominate the real-money games industry in India. E-sports is also emerging as a popular gaming category where skilled gamers compete for prizes and recognition.
The foundation of the Indian gaming industry is built on the strong popularity of skill-based games and e-sports.Along with casual games, they combine to make the Indian games industry stronger. However, there are differences between skill-based games and e-sports that make them stand out.
How E-sports Differ from Skill-Based Games?
Online gaming in itself doesn’t indicate real-money involvement, tournaments, or prizes. It simply means video games that are played for recreational purposes. Skill-based games like rummy online are generally real-money games. It is a combination of skills, entertainment and the possibility of winning.
However, e-sports is online gaming with a difference. It involves gamers with good skills who participate in individual or team games and end up winning a competition. Other than the fact that it is played online, e-sports has a lot of similarities with physical competitive sports, like cricket, football and tennis, in spirit. Dota 2, Counter-Strike and Fortnite are examples of popular e-sports.
The Emergence of E-Sports
The urge to compete is inherent among human beings. In a vast country like India, it is not easy to break into the first 11 of the national teams, be it cricket, football or hockey. For many youngsters, getting access to a world-class sporting facility may be a challenge.
Besides, not everyone is physically athletic enough to compete in sports professionally. For all of these individuals, e-sports offer a viable alternative to compete.With the advent of video gaming in India, the competition angle soon got attached to it. Competitive gaming has been gaining popularity in India ever since the early 2000s.
The emergence of online games platforms in India became the wind beneath the wings of competitive gaming. Within a few years, tournaments held by online gaming platforms began to attract thousands of participants. KPMG expects the e-sports industry in India to become a $1.6 billion business by 2025.
Successful gamers, with their massive social media and YouTube following, further added to the increasing fervour for e-sports. Tournaments began to attract and breed top gaming talents, and the prize kitty of these tournaments swelled considerably. Apart from the electronic version of real sports like racing and football, genres like real-time strategy, fighting, first-person shooter and Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) gained popularity.
Is Peaceful Co-Existence Possible?
When it comes to skill-based gaming, the interest in many of these games has a time-tested legacy. Someone downloading a rummy app today has probably seen the game being played in their living room as a child. Among the online rummy enthusiasts, there would be many who would have played the game physically while growing up.
Thus, skill-based games have always existed, and they have a ready market base of patrons. With real-money gaming, they are now being adapted into the digital format.E-sports, on the other hand, is a competitive outgrowth of video games. It is a concept evolving out of the technological developments made in the gaming ecosystem.
The popularity of the two gaming formats doesn’t eclipse each other. It is more likely that the same person may have a genuine interest in both skill-based gaming as well as e-sports.Besides, the motivation of a participant in skill-based games and e-sports also differs. Skill-based games help players test their skills against real competitors in a virtual environment.
It acts as a source of recreation and entertainment for, say, the rummy online players. Just like it does for participants in a game of offline rummy or poker. E-sports participants are now recognised as professional athletes who participate in the discipline for the same motivation as Lionel Messi or Virat Kohli. The motivation is to compete against the best in the sports and come out on top, with prizes and recognition to boot.
Convergence: The Big Picture
E-sports has gained recognition from the International Olympic Committee as a sporting discipline. It has been a part of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and maybe a full-fledged sport in the 2024 Paris Olympics. This type of endorsement has helped skill based game companies like RummyTime to gain widespread acceptance and recognition in the Indian gaming community.
It is no wonder, therefore, that skill-based games like online rummy, poker, and fantasy sports are the top three components of the Indian gaming industry.E-sports and skill-based games are making rapid inroads into Tier-II+ cities after their initial success in metros.
As smartphone penetration reaches out to the interiors of the country, along with the uninterrupted supply of affordable mobile internet data, new members are getting added to the ever-growing Indian gaming community.
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