New Delhi (Esports news): History is being made as the country's first ever franchise based E sports league, the Esports Premier League(ESPL) has partnered with smartphone maker Infinix Mobile as the title sponsor for its first edition with a target to revolutionise the Esports in the nation and bring its thrilling ride to the mainstream audience through the nationwide tournament. The tournament wants access into the growing field of esports in the country to help the competitive gaming community. This segment has achieved a spectacular boost in the previous year as an increasing number of users are spending time on smartphones for gaming.
Aiming to give Esports ecosystem in India a complete shift and helping develop Esports and gaming in the Indian market with the never seen top notch event, India Today Group, which has forayed into esports, is ready to roll out Season 1 of the league from June 16. The league has a massive total prize pool worth Rs 25 lakhs. It has associated with Garena to create an exclusive gaming platform for Free Fire, the most popular battle royale game currently played by gamers and gaming enthusiasts in India. ESPL will allow players from every nook and corner of the country to showcase their skills on this mega national stage for the first time. The league will be available on multiple platforms including OTT giant Disney+ Hotstar as well as the official YouTube and Facebook channels of India Today and Aaj Tak along with their websites.
ESPL is planning to be the largest platform to discover and help new gaming talent grow across India. As part of the strategy to push gaming to the mainstream, ESPL will give out all the 8 teams and their players a lot of media coverage across various media platforms including digital, print, TV, and more. This will aid in upcoming esports professionals gaining fame and stardom on par with other conventional sports. While talking about the launch of Esports Premier League (ESPL) and its association with Infinix Mobile, India Today Group Vice Chairperson, Kalli Purie said: “This pandemic and the resultant lockdown have contributed to propelling the esports industry into mainstream entertainment. India Today’s Gaming and Esports platform will provide a thrilling experience to its users through a wide range of games, online tournaments, and an opportunity to win exciting prizes. These are very exciting times as smartphone usage continues to grow exponentially and I believe the partnership with Infinix Mobile will help us intensify our mission of taking Esports to the next level in India.”
Also read: Why esports will be a part of the Olympic Games in the near future
With the pandemic and lockdown still going on, ESPL will be held as a virtual tournament in its opening edition and consist of more than 700 online matches with about 300 plus hours of streaming. The Hong Kong based smartphone company, Infinix Mobile is keen on staying up to date when it comes to the latest and greatest in technology with its upcoming, Note 10 line up of devices.
“The Indian online gaming industry is growing at a rate of almost 27% per annum and is estimated to reach $2.8B by 2022. The current pandemic situation has further fuelled the growth of the gaming industry in India. At Infinix, we are part of this revolution by making devices for the mid-range segment that is feature-rich and enhance the users gaming experience, to further amplify the gaming capability of a user our R&D has developed a technology called Darlink which optimizes and improves the performance of a device on several parameters. Our partnership with India Today for the Esports Premier League is just another step towards achieving the same goal. We look forward to a fruitful association and intend to encourage budding talent in this field,” Mr. Anish Kapoor, CEO of Infinix Mobile said while announcing the association.
About Esports Premier League 2021
The India Today Group marquee property ESPL is coming with their inaugural edition of
the league and have included some exclusive zing to India’s first ever franchise based Esports league. The league has teamed up with Garena’s game Free Fire which is geared up to roll out from June 16. The tournament will see close to 100 teams competing in the initial two levels while the best eight teams will progress into the grand finale. To participate in the league, gaming enthusiasts and gamers can register themselves on the India today gaming website.
About Infinix Mobile
Infinix Mobile is a Hong Kong based smartphone company founded in 2013. The brand was born after the French mobile manufacturer Sagem Wireless was acquired in 2011. The company has research and development centres spreading between France and Korea and designs its phones in France. The brand seizes to become the most advanced, consumer favourite international mobile communications brand the world has ever seen. Infinix mobile phones are manufactured and are available in Asia and in about 30 countries in the Middle East and Africa, including Morocco, Nigeria and Algeria. The company is very proud to be a part of the Make In India initiative. Infinix is also the main sponsor of the Indian Super League team Mumbai City FC and they partnered with Esports Premier League 2021 with India Today Group to foster the esports ecosystem in India and leverage the power of the mobile first gaming ecosystem of the country
