Reliance, Blast partner to expand esports business in India

New Delhi: Reliance's wholly-owned subsidiary Rise Worldwide has entered into a strategic partnership with Blast Esports to form a joint venture to conduct esports business in India, according to a joint statement.
Reliance and Blast will partner to develop market-leading Intellectual Properties (IPs) in India and Blast’s global IPs to the Indian market for fans, players, and brands, the statement said.
Blast, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Denmark-based Blast ApS, is a tournament organiser. It works with game publishers including, Epic Games, Valve, Riot Games, Krafton, and Ubisoft, to create global esports properties.
"The JV's (joint venture) ambition is to attract top-tier titles and events in the future," it said.
India is the fastest-growing gaming market with a gamer base of 600+ million, which is 18% of the total gamers globally.
India's esports market is in the nascent stage and is expected to be a high-growth market. The government of India has officially recognised esports in the country by declaring it a part of the "multi-sports event" category.
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games, in which multiplayer video games are played competitively.
"The strategic partnership will help to accelerate this growth by bringing Blast’s globally recognised esports properties and production techniques to India while co-creating new tournament IPs tailored to the fast-growing gaming market," it said.
Robbie Douek, CEO, Blast, said, "By partnering with Reliance, a market leader with unparalleled expertise and reach in India, we have a unique opportunity to elevate the local esports scene to new heights."
Devang Bhimjyani, Head, Reliance Sports, said, "With this JV, Reliance will extend its interest in sports into esports and leverage Rise’s ability to market and promote sporting events and teams, along with Jio providing its distribution and technology expertise."