The Overwatch League is not the only new eSports competition launching in 2018. One must have seen the #HumGamerHain hashtag go viral on Twitter, accompanied by a flashy music video. It is all part of the campaign to promulgate India’s first televised eSports tournament the U Cypher Championship.
The tournament’s “title track,” produced in partnership with MTV India, has been in spotlight having been viewed over 320,000 times on YouTube followed by 30 thousand views on Twitter. The video itself is a joyous vista.
U Cypher Championship is being run by U Sports, a company based out of Mumbai renowned not only for possessing a professional Kabaddi team, but also for its investments in soccer and motorsports. They told Polygon that the U Cypher Championship is their foremost effort in eSports, with the goal of enhancing the profile of competitive video gaming across India.
The tournament aligns six different Indian teams to compete across three different platforms: PC, consoles and mobile. Games include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Tekken 7 and Real Cricket 17. Teams compete in a round-robin format, and matches are being broadcast on MTV India as 35 one-hour episodes.
Mr. Amar Ratnam, the U Sports’ Assistant Manager of eSports, said: “This would perhaps be a game changer in the way eSports is perceived in our country. For the first time it is being broadcast on television, which will bring not only scale but also educate the young generation of aspiring or casual gamers to take up the sport professionally.”
Teams of 14 are competing for a prize pool of around $80,000. The final broadcast is scheduled for Feb. 22. If you want to follow along, all episodes will be shared on YouTube and broadcast via Twitch.
By Niji Narayan
Niji Narayan has been in the writing industry for well over a decade or so. He prides himself as one of the few survivors left in the world who have actually mastered the impossible art of copy editing. Niji graduated in Physics and obtained his Master’s degree in Communication and Journalism. He has always interested in sports writing and travel writing. He has written for numerous websites and his in-depth analytical articles top sports magazines like Cricket Today and Sports Today. He reports gaming industry headlines from all around the globe.