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Tag: Vi Games

  • Vi and Team Vitality forge a strategic esports partnership in India Sub

    Vi and Team Vitality forge a strategic esports partnership in India Sub

    Mumbai: According to the State of India Gaming Report 2022, the Indian esports industry is expected to grow to Rs 140 million by 2027. Over the last few years, esports as a category gained recognition as a mainstream sport especially after being debuted as an official medal sport at various international sports platforms. To capitalise on this growing consumer category, Vodafone Idea (Vi), one of India’s telecom operators and Paris based Team Vitality, international esports organisation, have announced a long-term union to boost the esports ecosystem in India.

    With this first of its kind collaboration, the two brands jointly aim to create opportunities and exposures to esports fans and gaming enthusiasts alike. The partnership encompasses many aspects such as brand sponsorship, content partnerships, gaming events and unique experiences at a never-seen-before scale. This will enable Vi customers to participate in esports and allow exclusive access to some of the popular Team Vitality tournaments and teams. This partnership will create opportunities for budding esports talent from across the country to have access to professional players, master classes, meet & greets with esports talent and many other opportunities.

    Vi is known for its presence in the mobile games segment, offering a wide range of hyper casual mobile games to users via Vi Games on Vi App. Through this association with Team Vitality, Vi now aims to deepen its focus on esports in India. Vi Games in the recent past forayed into the esports segment by hosting popular free-to-play tournaments across games like Call of Duty: Mobile, Free Fire Max, Asphalt 9, Clash Royale, etc.

    Commenting on the association, Vi CMO Avneesh Khosla, said, “Gaming has always been our strategic focus area and we have continuously strived to strengthen our gaming portfolio with right partnerships and relevant offerings. Over the last few years, esports has revolutionized the mobile gaming arena especially with younger audiences, and hence, deepening our focus in this space was a natural progression for Vi Games. We are excited to partner with one of the leading esports organizations of the world – Team Vitality. Together, we aim to drive and democratize access to the esports ecosystem in India. In the coming months, we will introduce some exciting esports and other youth centric content for our consumers to experience.”  

    Speaking on the occasion, Team Vitality India managing director Randall Fernandez said, “We are exhilarated to announce our partnership with Vi. We are at a juncture where technology will catapult gaming to the next level and eagerly look forward to our journey together. We will unlock new horizons searching for aspiring gaming talent across the length and breadth of the country, set new precedents and create indelible marks within the esports industry.”

    Locally, Team Vitality’s all Indian Call of Duty: Mobile (CODM) team were among the top 16 teams globally who qualified and competed in the CODM World Championship 2023 that was held in Atlanta, US between 15 and 17 December. The organisation previously roped in popular gaming content creators Nischay ‘Live Insaan’ Malhan, Rachit ‘Rachitroo’ Yadav, Nitin ‘Classified YT’ Chougale, Shagufta ‘Xyaa’ Iqbal and Pratik ‘Aurum’ Mehra who have a cumulative YouTube base of 20 million subscribers.

    To capitalise on this upward growing industry and to build a deeper connect with consumers, Vi and Team Vitality plan to launch various gaming contests and events.

  • Vodafone Idea launches Vi Games in partnership with Nazara Technologies

    Vodafone Idea launches Vi Games in partnership with Nazara Technologies

    Mumbai: Vodafone Idea on Monday announced its foray into mobile gaming with the launch of Vi Games in partnership with Nazara Technologies. This will be the first phase of the company’s entry into the gaming space with subsequent expansion into esports, social gaming, streaming, and cloud gaming.

    Vi Games will be a destination within the Vi App and will offer more than 1200+ mobile games across ten genres to Vi customers in HTML5 and Android format. Vi Games has a massive catalogue of titles to choose from out of which 80 per cent are exclusively available on Vi App. While 27 per cent of the portfolio has free games, at an additional fee, prepaid and postpaid customers can access premium and super-premium games.

    Nazara Technologies have come on board as a technology partner and will support Vi Games by bringing its experience, competency and diversity of titles in mobile gaming. The company operates in 75 countries and has partnered with 50 telecom operators.

    Casual gaming is a Rs 6,000 crore market in India growing at 40 per cent CAGR in the last two years. It is expected to grow by an additional 30 per cent in the coming two years to touch Rs 17,000 crore in value. The majority of gaming consumption in India happens via mobile devices which accounts for 95 per cent of consumption. There are about 400 million casual games in India which is expected to cross 650 million users by 2025. Globally, gaming accounts for 70 per cent of mobile consumer spending.

    “We are seeing a significant uptake of gaming consumption in India with more than 95 per cent of gaming enthusiasts using the mobile device to enjoy a wide variety of content,” said Vodafone Idea chief marketing officer Avneesh Khosla. “Deeper penetration of smartphones and 4G availability has led to meteoric growth and adoption of gaming content making it a popular choice for fun and entertainment.”

    “While GenZ was driving the first wave of adoption in gaming, recent growth is far more encompassing,” said Khosla. “Women account for 43 per cent of gamers in India and 50 per cent of women gamers are above the age of 34. Gaming attracts a diverse mix of cohorts regardless of age, gender and geography.  

    “We see gaming as a major focus area of our digital content strategy and we intend to build a comprehensive play encompassing most facets of gaming with the aim of establishing Vi as a preferred destination for both, casual as well as serious gamers,” he added.

    “Gaming is not only the future of entertainment in India but already a key mode of entertainment for hundreds of millions of Indians playing games on their mobile phones every day,” said Nazara Technologies founder and group MD Nitish Mittersain. “Nazara is delighted to work with Vi to bring our entire portfolio of gaming content, esports and interactive entertainment to their larger user base.”

    The average Indian mobile user consumes an average of 16 Gb of data per month which is 60 per cent higher than the industry average at 9 Gb. Indians now spend one-third of their waking hours on mobile devices and at least three fourth Indians have played one mobile game.

    “In the last two decades, we have seen a dramatic change in the macro factors like penetration of mobile devices and cheap data that have helped make India a global giant in gaming,’ noted Mittersain. “Today gaming is reaching across demographics and there is a lot of opportunity to collaborate.”