Real Cricket esports game struck big with fans and validated GoI’s AVGC outlook with more than 100,000+ participants in the championship and garnering a viewership of more than 2.5 million viewers. Real Cricket hosted the finals of the Real Cricket Championship on 3 March 2022. Showcasing the growing popularity of esports in the country, participants based across 25 states and union territories of India took part in the Real Cricket Championship which is built around the hit cricket game Real Cricket 20 – a mobile game with a massive following amongst the youth of the nation.
After weeks of intense cricket action, the Grand Final happened on 3 March between Punjab’s Sukhpreet and Delhi’s Anuraag Prabhakar. Sukhpreet got off to a fantastic start after winning the first two games of the best-of-five series. Anuraag didn’t back down, though, and managed a spectacular reverse sweep to take the series three-two. The Delhite will walk away with Rs. 10,00,000 while Sukhpreet will pocket Rs 5,00,000 for finishing as the runner-up. Additionally, the top players of the Real Cricket Championship 2022 will be felicitated at the JetSkyesports Grand Slam Award Ceremony in Mumbai next month.
Commenting on the Championship finals, JetSynthesys VC and MD Rajan Navani said, “To say that cricket is one of the biggest phenomena of the country would be preaching to the choir. In the area of esports and gaming too, we are witnessing massive growth in simulated, skill based e-cricket through our game, ‘Real Cricket’. Real Cricket provides enormous opportunities in India’s esports ecosystem, and we are confident that we can unlock those gains for the enormous cricket fans in India and beyond. This tournament and it’s massive viewership has fuelled our momentum to take the game to the next level, as we prepare to expand our game beyond India and South Asia, hoping to make a dent in the cricket gaming arena globally. It was indeed a pleasure to host the Real Cricket Championship thereby bringing together players from both metros and beyond who competed and showcased their skills to determine ‘India’s Best’. Heartiest congratulations to the winners and all those who participated.”
The FEAI has been stressing and advocating on the same lines. FEAI founding president Vaibhav Dange, said: “Cricket presents a massive opportunity for growth of Esports in India. In our deliberations with national stakeholders as well as global Esports fraternity, we can see a robust momentum building up for an exponential growth of Esports in our country and confident that Esports offer an excellent opportunity to the youth of India to compete at a global scale and earn recognition for themselves and the country. We are enthused that the Government of India is recognizing this opportunity and creating policies that will enable this growth.”
FEAI founding member Gagan Narang said, “We are positively aligned with the Government of India’s renewed outlook towards a standardised AVGC policy that focuses on indigenous games and talent to take our country’s narrative to the world. The need of the hour is to address the entire ecosystem and define a hybrid model for Esports, including a global outlook with a strong India centric narrative, for which cricket will play a key role. India is a mobile first esports ecosystem and games like Real Cricket will play a pivotal role in promoting our culture with the world.”
Speaking on the occasion of National Finals, Nautilus Mobile CEO Anuj Mankar, creators of the game stressed on the importance of an Indian made esports title which resonates with youngsters in the country and potentially hitting foreign shores with the same impact. “The enormous volume that India brings to the mobile gaming domain is a huge opportunity to all game developers. It has been rather unfortunate that despite that we have yet to see a Indian game capture the imagination of the players to the extent that some of the global titles have. I think the time is right for cricket which is almost a religion in the country to be the centre theme to create India’s very first made in India esports title which can later be our first esports export to the world,” suggested Mankar.
Skyesports founder and CEO Shiva Nandy said, “We are thrilled to see the participation numbers for the Real Cricket Championship and I congratulate the winners who have received a share of the Rs. 20,00,000 prize pool. Cricket fans in India exist in every nook and corner of the country and tournaments like the RCC enable us to tap into different audiences and grow esports from the grassroots level. With the imminent release of Real Cricket 22, I am very excited for what the future has in store for India’s homegrown cricket title and we are looking forward to hosting another exciting edition of the RCC later this year.”
FEAI and its partners will look to build upon this success and validation to further emphasize the need for regulations, support and development which would help Indian tournament organizers, players and game developers.