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Tag: gaming

  • Esports Premier League season 2 postponed due to govt’s ban on Battlegrounds Mobile India application

    Esports Premier League season 2 postponed due to govt’s ban on Battlegrounds Mobile India application

    Mumbai: The broadcasting of Esports Premier League (ESPL) season 2, the country’s first ever franchise-based esports league, has been postponed on account of the ban imposed by the government to remove Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) gaming application from Google play store & Apple app store.

    In a press statement, ESPL said, “This year’s league has been engaging gamers from across the country in high-voltage action of the battle royale game, BGMI which carries a massive prize pool of Rs 1 crore. After a month-long of riveting actions, packed with rivalries, gripping moments and thrilling finishes, the top sixteen teams were franchised and they were set to fight in a grand LAN finale from 1-5 August 2022.”

    The government banned the Battlegrounds Mobile India gaming application on 28 July.

    Also Read | Battle royale: Why govt’s ban of BGMI spells bad news for gaming in India | Indian Television Dot Com

    ESPL added that the entities concerned will evaluate or pursue the matter in accordance with the directions issued by the government.

    “We are therefore constrained to put the ESPL Season 2, on hold, in light of the government’s directions and the prevailing circumstances. This is an unfortunate situation for all esports enthusiasts, and also a huge setback for India, at this stage of the tournament,” it also said.

    “However, upon closure of the matter favorably, we intend to renew the ESPL from the stage where we are leaving it now, which means that the selected finalist teams will be invited again to take the tournament forward for the Finals” it further added.

  • ESPL to continue association with Tiger Shroff for Esports league season 2

    ESPL to continue association with Tiger Shroff for Esports league season 2

    Mumbai: ESports Premier League (ESPL) on Monday announced to continue its association with actor Tiger Shroff as the face of franchise-based Esports league for the second consecutive year. 

    Along with the partnership extension, ESPL has also roped in Global smartphone brand TECNO Mobile as presenting sponsor and India’s leading streaming platform, LOCO as their exclusive digital broadcast partner for ESPL Season 2.

    Tiger’s association with ESPL season 2 is expected to further bolster the positioning of the league. In the last season, Tiger’s video of cheering esports athletes garnered more than a million views on YouTube.

    TECNO Mobile is promoting TECNO Pova 3 through ESPL which started on 15 June.

    Speaking on the association with Tiger Shroff, ESPL director Vishwalok Nath said, “Tiger Shroff played a key role in making ESPL a household name in its first season. His popularity and fan following among the youth and millennial audiences helped us to engage and influence gamers across the country. His star power also helped push Esports to the mainstream. We are delighted to extend our fruitful association with Tiger in the second season. I’m confident that Tiger’s strong connection with the audiences will help us greatly in achieving our aim of revolutionising the Indian esports ecosystem.”

    Shroff added, “I am glad to continue my partnership with India Today Gaming for ESPL Season 2. Esports has seen an explosive growth across the country. ESPL is a great platform for esports athletes to showcase their talent on the national stage. I am happy to be part of this undertaking to grow the esports industry while encouraging the esports players and the gaming community.”

    The second edition of ESPL kickstarted on 15 June as this year’s league has been engaging gamers from across the country in high-voltage action of the most popular battle royale game, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI).

  • Mattel’s Masters of the Universe launched on NFT platform Cryptoys

    Mattel’s Masters of the Universe launched on NFT platform Cryptoys

    Mumbai: The non-fungible token (NFT) platform that combines toys, gaming and entertainment to create an expansive playable universe Cryptoys has announced the launch of Masters of the Universe in a multiyear and global partnership deal with Mattel. 

    A new way for fans to collect and play with toy brands, Cryptoys are animated, playable collectibles that come to life the moment they’re unwrapped. The upcoming launch, timed to He-Man’s 40th birthday celebration this fall, will be the first to bring Masters of the Universe digital toys into a collectible, interactive world through the Cryptoys universe.

    Masters of the Universe fans will have a first look at the Cryptoys and Mattel partnership at San Diego Comic-Con, where exclusive collectible lapel pins featuring iconic characters (including arch enemies He-Man and Skeletor along with Battle Cat) will be given away daily at the Mattel booth.

    OnChain Studios CEO & co-founder Will Weinraub said, “The Masters of the Universe franchise is full of iconic, nostalgic characters that fans have been watching, playing with, and collecting for decades. Many of us grew up with Masters of the Universe, which is why we felt it was the perfect property to launch first on the Cryptoys platform as we partner with Mattel to bring new life to these beloved characters.”

  • Mythoverse Studios announces its foray into the Metaverse; appoints Anshu Patni as CEO of gaming and Web3.0

    Mythoverse Studios announces its foray into the Metaverse; appoints Anshu Patni as CEO of gaming and Web3.0

    Mumbai: Mythoverse Studios, a venture of media entrepreneurs Madhu Mantena and Sheetal Talwar on Monday announced that the company is all set to enter the Web3.0 space and will concentrate on bringing newer immersive experiences for its audiences inspired by stories from Indian Mythology. As a part of expanding its horizons, Mythoverse Studios has appointed Anshu Patni as its CEO of gaming and WEB3.0.

    She comes with over a decade of experience in the content, talent, and gaming business under her belt. In her new role, she will have her eyes set on bringing the immersive world of Mythoverse in its Web3.0 Avatar. 

    Mythoverse Studios founder Madhu Mantena commented, “The work we have done over the past few years at Mythoverse lends itself to the huge opportunity that Metaverse offers. As part of this expansion, I am happy to bring on board Anshu as our CEO for the WEB3.0 and gaming business. I am confident that under her leadership we will open and explore new frontiers of immersive experiences that we hope to explore and exploit not only at Mythoverse Studios but for all the wonderful IP that we own and create at Phantom Studios and Cinergy Films.”

    Patni said, “After having worked with content platforms, producers and artists across entertainment and gaming in the WEB2.0 space, I am looking forward to creating new experiences in the WEB3.0 space for Mythoverse and the immersive world of entertainment that we are building.”

    With over 15 years of experience in the entertainment and content ecosystem, she brings with her a unique set of expertise across content, talent management and brand building. Anshu also hosts a podcast called QUESTIONS I WANTED TO ASK across various audio and video platforms. In her previous roles, Anshu has helmed CHNO Media and also as the business head at CAA Kwan. 

    Mythoverse Studios is focused on bringing immersive experiences across various mediums and platforms inspired by Indian Mythology. The company is currently producing two epics- Ramayana and Mahabharata which it said are expected to bring together some of the biggest names in the Indian film industry.

  • Music NFTs are an alternative way for artists to increase their earning potential: Report

    Music NFTs are an alternative way for artists to increase their earning potential: Report

    Mumbai: Music NFTs are an alternative way for artists, most of whom depend on extractive record labels and centralised platforms to earn a living, to increase their earning potential, according to a report by video games, data, analytics and market research firm Newzoo. This allows them to sell their singles, EPs, or albums as NFTs to their most loyal fans, it added. 

    The report indicated the trends in the metaverse, blockchain gaming, and NFTs. It identifies and analyses metaverse trends, case studies, the future of the metaverse, P2E, blockchain gaming, and NFT space.

    According to Newzoo’s report, 2021 has undeniably been the year of NFTs, with several high-profile collections being sought after for the boost in social status and financial incentives they offered. Despite the current market pullback profile picture (PFP) NFTs are likely to be key elements when it comes to digital identity in the metaverse.

    The report suggests that consumers spend increasingly more time in virtual worlds, and successful brands follow them. As a result, consumer-facing companies will be forced to develop a metaverse strategy to stay connected with their (future) customers and remain relevant.

    As time spent in virtual worlds increases, our digital identity and representation will grow in importance. This opens a wide array of opportunities for traditional and digital fashion brands alike to dress our digital selves with in-game skins and virtual garments, thus giving rise to the direct-to-avatar business model. This also has important implications for the future of e-commerce.

    Play to earn and blockchain gaming –  As time passes, we are likely to see more blockchain games challenge traditional AAA titles in terms of technical complexity and at some point size of the player base. Though blockchain gaming faces some notable challenges particularly sustainability and regulatory concerns these are likely to be mitigated as the space matures.

    The report also highlights the key challenges of this industry. Some major challenges include politics and regulations where governments will want to control virtual worlds, and regulations may create new barriers between worlds. Also, UGC spaces require strong safety and content moderation processes in place, supported by machine learning and trust/safety agents.

    Privacy and ethics also need to be addressed because metaverse activity tracking has the potential to become far more powerful than web tracking. At the same time, accessibility and scale are also seen as challenging as the metaverse is not yet accessible or interoperable at scale. Lastly, new standards and protocols are needed for the industry.

  • ASCI processes 5532 complaints in 2021-22; education remains most violative sector

    ASCI processes 5532 complaints in 2021-22; education remains most violative sector

    Mumbai: The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) released its annual complaints report for the period April’ 21 – March’ 22, during which it processed 5,532 advertisements across mediums including print, digital, and television. Education at 33 per cent remains the single largest violative sector, followed by health care (16 per cent), and personal care (11 per cent).

    The digital ecosystem took centre stage with new categories like crypto and gaming in the top five violative categories, and nearly 48 per cent of the ads processed belong to the medium.

    In 2021-22, ASCI processed a whopping 62 per cent more ads compared to the previous year, and 25 per cent more complaints. The self-regulatory body saw an overall compliance rate of 94 per cent.

    While television and print ads remained in focus, ASCI greatly broadened its ambit by proactively monitoring advertising in the digital landscape. With the influencer guidelines coming into force last year, complaints against influencers constituted 29 per cent of the total grievances. Complaints regarding misleading claims in ads featuring celebrities saw a 41 per cent increase out of which a staggering 92 per cent were found to be violating ASCI’s guidelines.  

    Given its focus on digital monitoring, emerging categories included the relatively new categories of virtual digital assets and online real money gaming, contributing significantly to objectionable ads at eight per cent each.

    ASCI continued its proactive surveillance and 75 per cent of ads processed were picked up suo-motu. This included the AI-based monitoring that ASCI has set up for digital tracking. Complaints from consumers constituted 21 per cent of complaints, followed by intra-industry at two per cent and CSO/government complaints at 2 per cent. Out of the 5,532 total ads processed, 39 per cent were not contested by the advertiser, 55 per cent of them were found to be objectionable after investigation, and complaints against four per cent of ads were dismissed as not violating the ASCI code. 94 per cent of ads that ASCI processed needed changes so as not to violate the ASCI code.

    Talking about the annual report, ASCI chairman Subhash Kamath shared: “2021-22 was the year we followed through on our promise of increasingly monitoring the digital media given the way it has been dominating the advertising landscape. We invested heavily in technology and that has worked quite well. We also upgraded our complaints system which has made it very easy for consumers to register their complaints and for advertisers to respond to it. Going ahead, we will continue to be at the forefront in understanding how best to regulate and monitor the digital frontier, even as we keep streamlining our processes to become more responsive, and more proactive.”

    Sharing her thoughts about the annual report, ASCI CEO & secretary general Manisha Kapoor, said: “The ASCI team, the Consumer Complaints Council, the Honourable ex-high court judges on our review panel, and our domain experts have debated the nuances of advertising and scientificnevidence of thousands of ads to ensure that the process and outcomes are fair to both consumers as well as advertisers. Simultaneously, the constant update to our code ensures that we constantly offer guidance and transparency to consumers and advertisers on newer and emerging formats and categories. This helps in keeping self-regulation at the frontier of advertising developments.”

    ASCI has also upgraded its complaints system “TARA” in order to offer a seamless experience to both consumers and advertisers in the management and resolution of complaints. Features like real-time tracking of complaints aim to make the experience similar to what one would expect from any contemporary tech platform.

    Read the report here: https://ascionline.in/images/pdf/complaint-report-2021-22.pdf

  • Girish Menon joins Jetsynthesys as chief strategy officer

    Girish Menon joins Jetsynthesys as chief strategy officer

    Mumbai: Jetsynthesys has appointed Girish Menon as chief strategy officer, according to his recent LinkedIn update.

    He was previously associated with KPMG as a partner for its media and entertainment practice. Jetsynthesys is an IT services and consulting company specialising in gaming, esports and entertainment domain.

    Menon is a professional with over 25 years of experience in mergers & acquisitions, strategy and consulting with a specialisation in media, digital, gaming & consumer internet domains.

    He has been associated with KPMG for 21 years out of which 14 years were spent in the deal advisory practice covering strategy and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory. He has also had an entrepreneurial stint heading a film studio venture and also held the role of head strategy at Balaji Telefilms.

  • First Partners wins communications mandate for Games24x7

    First Partners wins communications mandate for Games24x7

    Mumbai: First Partners has won the communications mandate for Games24x7. First Partners will be responsible for managing the brand reputation for Games24x7.

    Founded by New York University trained economists Bhavin Pandya and Trivikraman Thampy in 2006, Games24x7 is one of the fastest-growing online gaming companies in India with more than a hundred million users. Backed by marquee investors like Tiger Global, The Raine Group, and Malabar Investment, the company specializes in using behavioural science, technology, and artificial intelligence to provide a best-in-class playing experience across all its platforms.

    Speaking on the partnership, Games24x7 director communication Neha Singhvi said, “The online skill-gaming sector has witnessed an upward trend in the last few years and as the pioneers in the industry, we were looking for a communications partner who can provide a fresh and innovative approach for powerful storytelling.”

    “We look forward to collaborating with the dynamic communication team at First Partners and using their domain knowledge & expertise in developing strategic campaigns that stand out before relevant industry stakeholders,” she added.

    Atul Ahluwalia, Founding Partner, First Partners, said, “We are excited to partner with Games24x7 in shaping the emerging category of skill based digital games in India. This sunrise sector needs a holistic mix of expertise in reputation management, business outcome communication, and advocacy to get its due which our team at First Partners finds stimulating.”

  • E-Gaming Federation urges govt to maintain 18% GST for online skill gaming sector

    E-Gaming Federation urges govt to maintain 18% GST for online skill gaming sector

    MUMBAI: The GST Council reconstituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) in February 2022 to study the GST rates for casinos, racecourses, and online gaming. The panel’s terms of reference stated that it will examine the valuation of services offered by casinos, racecourses, and online gaming portals, as well as the taxability of some casino transactions, all within the context of existing legal provisions and court orders. In addition, if an alternative is recommended, the GoM will investigate any changes that are required in the legal provisions and the administration of such valuation provision. The group will also assess the impact on other similar services, such as the lottery.

    Earlier this month, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, Convener – GoM held a meeting with other members and officials to discuss various aspects including the possible GST rates for online gaming, valuation modalities for levying the tax, and other technicalities regarding such activities.

    Currently, a tax rate of 18 percent is levied on the commission (Gross Gaming Revenue or GGR) collected by the online gaming platforms for each game that does not involve betting or gambling. This rate is in line with global best practices since online gaming industry tax structures in countries such as the USA, UK, Germany, and Australia, range between 15 percent to 20 percent. In recent years, the online gaming industry has experienced significant growth. The sector generated Rs 115 billion in revenue in 2020, and it is predicted to expand at a CAGR of 38 percent to Rs 384 billion by 2025.

    The contribution to the government exchequer by this industry was 15 to 20 billion in 2020, and the same is expected to reach 35 to 50 billion by 2025.

    If the current taxation regime is revised and charged on stakes rather than gross gaming revenue (GGR), it will prove to be disastrous to the burgeoning potential of the Indian online gaming industry. The hike will raise the tax by over 800 percent – 900 percent and encourage illicit market operations, which will expose players to unscrupulous operators (predominantly offshore), substantially reduce tax revenues for the government, and all but wipe out a legitimate sunrise sector with the potential to generate $25 billion in annual revenues and hundreds of thousands of jobs by 2030.

    E-Gaming Federation (EGF), an organisation representing top online skill gaming operators in India urges the government to consider Gross Gaming Revenues (GGR) for levying GST and keeping the service at an 18 percent slab.

    EGF CEO Sameer Barde said, “A higher tax burden will make the industry unviable. The gaming platform operators will be unable to continue operations at any meaningful level. Growth, innovation, employment opportunities, government revenues and most important responsible and safe gaming will be impacted in a big way. We urge the GoM to consider the industry’s unique needs and recommend the continuance of the current practice of considering GST to be paid on GGR, with the rate remaining at 18 percent. As online gaming is different from gambling and the Supreme Court and several High Courts have reaffirmed the status of skill-based games as legitimate business activity, rational tax treatment of online skill gaming will help in creating mutually benefitting situations for all the stakeholders.”

    EGF added that PM Modi endorsed India’s gaming industry as a potential world leader, emphasising on the industry’s socioeconomic and cultural importance in today’s globalised and digitised economy. The sector received further impetus after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the setting up of the Animation, Visual Arts, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Task Force, in her budget speech this year. “We are witnessing the start of a new era in India’s gaming sector. The fact that the government is supporting the industry is really encouraging. The sector’s true growth story, however, will be determined by progressive and favourable policies that establish best practices and encourage responsible gaming.”

  • Instagram shares top trends and themes from Indian Memeaverse

    Instagram shares top trends and themes from Indian Memeaverse

    Mumbai: Photo sharing site Instagram has revealed that memes have become a pivotal part of pop culture on the platform and it shared the top trends and themes from the memeaverse in India. Comedy, crypto, gaming and astrology memes are the most popular memes on Instagram. Comedy memes are well liked with the prominence of topical memes like #sharktankmemes and rise of regional memes like #gujjumemes and #tamilmemes.

    Globally, with over three million people following #meme, memes are the way people express themselves, to communicate who they are and how they feel at a certain moment. To discuss trends in memes, share best practices and celebrate meme culture, memers and creators from around the world came together virtually for the second annual Global MemeCon (formerly known as Global Meme Summit), organised by Instagram. An exclusive viewing party was also held in Mumbai with top memers and creators from India in attendance, where trends pertaining to the Indian memeaverse were shared. 

    Facebook India (Meta) director media partnerships Paras Sharma said, “Trends from the Indian memeaverse highlight how memes fuel culture and we’re glad to share them, so more people in the ecosystem understand the meme space even further. Now with Reels, memes have evolved from photos, GIFs, to short videos, and creative tools like remix, collab and original audio, are helping accelerate creativity in memes all across India.”

    Ankit Chauhan aka @oyeankit, a meme creator from Surat, who’s rib tickling memes have traversed the internet and travelled internationally too, was one of the speakers at the global MemeCon. He said, “It’s great to see the meme community come together and chart the ways and means by which memes can be intertwined with culture even further. I was glad to be representing India at the Summit and highlight some of my memes that have travelled from Surat to San Francisco and beyond, on Instagram!”

    BoAt co-founder, CMO Aman Gupta said, “Memes are an extremely interesting content format and are most representative of youth lingo and appeal. #SharkTankMemes is the perfect example, as people meme-d moments and dialogues from the show on Instagram, and pushed it to pop culture status. Creators are certainly flag bearers of this meme-language and I hope the trends from Instagram provide the structure for people, communities and brands to think about memes more intentionally.”

    Top trends from the Indian memeaverse:

    Top followed meme hashtags in India

    #funnymemes
    #gujjumemes
    #tamilmemes
    #memesdaily
    #marathimeme

    Trending hashtags

    #iplmemes
    #telugumemes
    #kgf2 
    #gujjumemes
    #willsmith

    Topical and cultural moments that created meme-storms:

    Choti Bachi Ho Kya?
    Shark Tank India memes
    Your accent is so sexy
    Hera Pheri Memes
    Mr McAdams