Various sports are governed by their respective bodies, for example cricket has BCCI in India. However, e-sports in India have not had any such kind of institution, which would govern it. Now, all that is about to change as Indiagames has announced the formation of a governing body “E-Sports Council of India” (ESC-I) to centralize administration for the competitive e-sports industry.
This announcement was made at the ongoing NASSCOM Animation & Gaming summit. Vishal Gondal, who happens to be the chief executive officer of Indiagames, is also the chairman of ESC-I.
He explains, “Making the announcement at the NASSCOM Animation & Gaming summit, Mr. Vishal Gondal, CEO, Indiagames and Chairman of ESC-I, said, “Gaming is catching up amongst the Indian youth in a big way. There are over one lakh active gamers across the country. However the competitive opportunities for gamers are often limited due to the level of fragmentation and the unorganized nature of the industry. The ESC-I aims to provide a platform to raise the status of the Indian gaming industry to that of E-Sports and provide an opportunity to raise the standards of gaming to International levels through its various initiatives. ESC-I will provide the opportunity for every individual and company with a talent or interest in gaming to be able to realize their full potential.”
ESC-I has planned up a lot of things like planning, regulating and organizing e-sports events right from the grass roots through to the professional level across the country. Not only that, it will be a common platform for competitive gamers, event managers and potential sponsors. There are plans for scholarship programs, training for both gamers and game officials, seminars, counseling and also organize International tournaments like World Cyber Games (WCG), WCG Asia, the national gaming league – GoD League and the Indo-Pak Cup as well as many other initiatives.
If you are wondering, who will be on the council, well, it will be made up of gamers as well as experienced gaming tournament organizers. Statistical data and ratings on a national level will also be maintained by ESC-I. Not only that, they are planning to organize special games for people with disabilities.
The E-Sports Council of India has its headquarters in Mumbai but there are local chapters such as Hyderabad (ESC-H), Kolkata (ESC-K), Chennai (ESC-C), Bangalore (ESC-B) and Delhi (ESC-D), which will be good as gamers are spread out all over India, in all the nooks and corners.