The esports industry is growing and gaining more popularity than ever. In 2021, Statista reports that esports had around 17 million viewers in India. The number of esports followers in the country grew in the course of the pandemic. It is estimated that by 2025, the country would have around 85 million esportsviewers which make India have one of the fastest-growing esports markets.
With the growth of esports in India comes the popularity of esports betting. Indians also love to gamble and teaming up this interest with esports tournaments works great. You can easily tell that eSports betting in India is blowing up now that the most popular betting sites in the country also allow betting on esports tournaments.
Curious to know which tournaments are most popularly wagered on in India? Here are the top 5games that are popular for esports tournaments that made our list and what you should know about them!
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or CSGO is one of the leading multi-player first-person shooter games worldwide. CSGO is developed by Valve and Hidden Entertainment and is the fourth Counter-Strike Series since the first Counter-Strike game in 200. In this game, two teams go head to head with different objectives or game modes.
In tournaments, it is one of the most popularly played games worldwide. There are different CSGO tournaments today but the most awaited has to be the Major Championships. This event, in particular, has the largest prize pools which could go as high as 1 million USD.
In esports betting, the common odds available are for the match winner, winner of the first map, the first kill, and the number of kills. Some of the most popular CSGO events in India are the ESL Pro League, Funspark ULTI, and the Malta Vibes Knockout Series.
DOTA 2
DOTA 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game where two teams of five players compete against each other to destroy each team’s base or defended structure. It is also developed and published by Valve and is technically built out of Warcraft 3.
DOTA 2 also has some of the biggest prize pools in the esports tournament scene. In India, the prize pool of a DOTA 2 tournament could go as high as half a million USD and this is why it is an attractive game to play professionally in the country.
The most popular DOTA 2 tournament worldwide is The International which is an annual tournament. The prize pool for this event is worth millions and so far, the highest we’ve seen is from The International 2021 with 40 million USD.
League of Legends
League of Legends is also a popular MOBA game that is heavily inspired by Warcraft 3. It is developed and published by Riot Games in 2009 and since then, it has become a hit in the esports scene. IN this game, there are also two teams of five players that battle on a map. Both teams are to destroy their enemy’s base and protect theirs like most MOBA games.
The largest esports tournament for this game is the League of Legends World Championship. The game has recently made noise again when Wild Rift was released on mobile as well as the popular Netflix animated series Arcane.
PUBG Mobile
Another popular first-shooter game in India is PUBG Mobile. PUBG is a free-to-play multiplayer shooting game developed by Lightspeed & Quantum and PUBG Corporation. It was originally a PC game that became available on mobile. Its publishers are Krafton, VNG, VNG Game Publishing, Tencent Games, Microsoft, and Level Infinite.
It’s a game really popular in India and when it comes to tournaments, the most popular in the country is the PUBG Mobile World League East with over 1.1 million viewers. Other popular PUBG Mobile tournaments in the country are PUBG Mobile Pro League Spring South Asia, PUBG Mobile India Series, and the PUBG Mobile Streamers Showdown.
Free Fire
A popular survival game in India is Free Fire and it is downloaded over 500 million times on both App Store and Google Play Store. This battle royale game is developed by 111dots Studio and is published by Garena for Android and iOS users.
The first Free Fire tournament was introduced in 2019 which is the Free Fire World Series. The following year, this was replaced by the Free Fire Continental Series because of the pandemic. Last year, Garena then announced another Free Frie World Series with a 2 million USD prize pool. However, the Free Fire tournament that is mostfollowed in India is the Free Fire India Championship.
Also read:
For more such interesting article like this, app/softwares, games, Gadget Reviews, comparisons, troubleshooting guides, listicles, and tips & tricks related to Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS, follow us on Google News, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest.