In a quest to promote and nurture the E-Sports culture in India, Rashi Peripherals Limited and Rigs on Demand (RoD) announced the launch of an E-sports competition – Rashi War Games. First, in the industry, Rashi War Games aims to increase awareness about online gaming and encourage youngsters to take up e-sports. The company recently concluded the first season of the competition organized in association with Lenovo, AMD and SanDisk exclusively for kids of channel partners. Over 200 e-sports aspirants demonstrated their skills in the fiercely fought competition.
The competition spread over three days was played on the popular game called Call of Duty-Mobile and also lived streamed on Facebook and YouTube. Total 16 top performers won grand prizes. Dhruv Jethwa a.k.a MADDY9 from Jabalpur became the first winner of the season and took home Gaming laptops. Five winners selected for the 2nd position won Gaming Headsets and ten winners shortlisted for the 3rd spot won gaming mouse.
On the unique initiative, Mihir Talekar, Business Manager at Rashi Peripherals, said, “We are overwhelmed with the response received for the first season of Rashi War Games. The objective was to encourage our partners’ kids and give them a platform to showcase their e-sports skills. The online gaming industry is growing rapidly in India and youngsters are considering e-sports as a career. Mobile gaming is the largely preferred format but we are also seeing a surge in desktops/laptop gaming. We are optimistic that e-sports will further flourish with digitization. Rashi War Games is our initiative to boost online gaming. We dedicated the first season to the kids of our partners. We intend to launch upcoming seasons on a larger scale for all e-sports enthusiasts.”
Tanmay Jethwa, father of winner Dhruv Jethwa said, “I am very proud of my son. A boy from a remote town like Balaghat won the competition. This is a trendsetter and will inspire small-town youngsters to explore gaming.” Tanmay Jethwa is the owner of the Computer Gallery in Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh) and has been associated with Rashi Peripherals for many years.
“The competition was well-organized, however, there should have been a prior briefing to all participants about the format. My family and friends enjoyed the game live on Facebook. We are seeing decent demand for gaming hardware in small towns and it will help to boost the channel business. Rashi Peripherals should organize such tournaments on regular basis”, he added.
Another Pune-based partner Naresh Gujar whose son Arya came to the first runner up said, “I am very happy with my son’s achievement and I would like to see him play on bigger platforms. The competition should also involve kids of staff members of partners. That will help to increase the scale of the competition and their kids will also feel motivated.”
With the world’s largest youth population, India is expected to become the world’s leading market destination in the gaming industry. The Indian Gaming Market was valued at INR 112 billion (USD 1.5 billion) in FY 2019 and is expected to cross INR 375 billion (USD 5 billion) by CY 2025, registering a CAGR of 22%, according to India Brand Equity Foundation. Though mobile gaming is contributing 90% of the total gaming market computer gaming is also gaining steady traction. This is a huge driving force for the high-end PC, components and gaming accessories business. With its wide reach of 50 branch offices and 63 warehouses across India, Rashi Peripherals is enabling the availability of entry-level to high-end gaming hardware across cities/towns. Rigs on Demand is another initiative by the company to help gaming enthusiasts design their desired Gaming PCs.
“Gaming industry is leading the growth of the PC business in India. We not only intend to tap every market opportunity but also give a boost to the gaming culture through seamless product availability and platforms like Rashi War Games”, Talekar concluded.