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The Indian esports industry has seen significant growth in community engagement over the last couple of years. From esports to content creation, many aspects have made the market one with much potential for stakeholders and foreign investors.
Dhiman Kashyap, co-founder and CEO at Resilience Esports, has been one of many vocal voices about the scene and how important it is to shorten the bridge between video game personalities and brands.
In an interview with Abhishek Mallick of Sportskeeda Esports, he opens up about the future of Indian video games and the role Resilience Esports will be playing in helping the scene mature in the coming months.
Here is an excerpt of the conversation
Q. Dhiman, you have often been vocal about India’s potential in the video games industry, especially in esports and content creation. What are some of your thoughts on where it stands today and some of the significant problems athletes and streamers face?
Dhiman: Firstly, thank you for having me, and yes, it is rightly said that I have been vocal about many things in the esports industry, especially for content creation.
You see, lots of people are actually trying to make a career out of it, and it is really encouraging to see that they have done this all by themselves. What’s even more astonishing is the age group these online personalities belong to; most of them are 10 to 25 years old.
Ten years ago, nobody would have thought that the content creation industry in India would have boomed like it is now. But, even to this date, I feel that it is still a very young market. Most content creators are still learning what works and what doesn’t, and it’s the duty of some major stakeholders in the industry to help and guide them along the way.
A lot of creators are facing the issue of revenue generation, connecting with the right set of people, finding their mojo, and the type of content that fits who they are and their personality. Content creation is a highly competitive market, and the proper guidance will help bring out the best in people.
As of now, many problems oversee the industry, such as a proper business model, facilities and equipment, an academy, etc. But, yes, we at Resilience Esports are currently trying to solve them one at a time so that we create a centralizing situation for these talented groups of people.
To be honest, we are trying to make the journey easy for them. As the saying goes, “When there’s a problem, there’s a solution,” and this is what matters. All will eventually fall in place.
Q. Talk to us a bit about Resilience Esports. What are some of the thoughts and visions that went behind its making? What are some of the future expectations for both a talent management firm and a professional video games organization?
Dhiman: Resilience Esports is our baby product of passion and sheer courage. As you can say, we have or had our day jobs in a very comfortable space before we decided to step into something that we really wanted to do.
It took a while for Navarun, Ankita, Dikshanta, and I to take all our expertise from different fields and place it into one box.
Thus, four guys from a small northeastern city, Guwahati, formed this beautiful concept of helping people set up a future in esports with lots of different ideas and visions.
Initially, we started by studying the market from 2019-20, and then we entered the industry when things began to boom. As of now, we have India's most extensive content creator program, with more than 300+ creators exclusively working with us around the South Asian region. 25+ brands also contribute to our cause, along with some of our brilliant partners from Europe, India, and the Middle East.
As you know, our vision is to create an ecosystem that helps promote a healthy career in the field of video games, especially esports. We are developing some IPs with our enthusiastic and proactive team of young people.
From the perspective of talents, we are trying to expand into new spaces with new ideas regarding esports advertising and platforms in new areas. Hence, eventually, we will be releasing a lot of information regarding those ideas.
I can just say to the people who are expecting something big from us that yes, “it’s coming soon.”
Q. What are some steps Resilience Esports is taking to help bridge the gap between content creators and brands?
Dhiman: Well, initially, the first goal is to let the brand know there isn’t any bridge. Many concepts suggest that brands don’t like to work with creators on a long-term basis due to the lack of data.
Hence, we gained lots of data doing market research at logical intervals, which helped us pitch a lot of our current partners with the right set of data and what they can expect from us. Many of our important partners from Europe, like inSTREAMLY and Streamcoi, helped us with the initial stages of data acquiring, and then it was just a “call away job.”
The brands were happy to sign long-term engagements with us, seeing the realistic valuation, the reach we could provide them, and the realistic goal we had given them with clear statistical benchmarks.
From the creator’s point of view, the performance factor plays a major role in the branding process. Many creators hate the notion of “performance marketing” because their main job is to make content, which is quite true.
But, marketing can be done very subtly, which doesn’t require lots of effort. We made sure to transfer those ideas and values into the set of creators we were working for, and in the last 60 days, the campaigns and the creators also grew a matured ideology about what the market actually is.
We just taught the creators how to fish rather than giving them a plate full of delicious fish. So, now, they are winning over the industry with such beautifully concept-driven marketing content.
Q. As I am aware, Resilience Esports has already created academy rosters for titles like Free Fire, Battlegrounds Mobile India, and League of Legends: Wild Rift. When is the org planning to finally come out with their official rosters in these games?
Dhiman: This has been a question asked in many interviews as to why we are not entering the professional roster space of India since we have a decent capability of empowering some esports athletes and giving them resources and a platform.
We believe that learning is a continuous process, and there is always scope for improvement. So when the discussion is about the academy rosters and official rosters, we understand the value of progress in players, team, management, and every element associated with it.
Currently, we are developing players from the grassroots levels. Thus it may seem like an academy roster, but we thoroughly inspect every part of their performance before arriving at a consensus. When the final tweaks and refinements are complete, we shall officially announce the teams from our side.
Also, it has always been our goal to empower people from the esports competitive point of view. As I said before, we are currently on the verge of creating some beautiful state-of-the-art facilities for a lot of people in different regional spaces.
We would wait for the right moment to retrospect our move and then jump into some big names in the industry. It’s like you say, you start from the corner of the room, and then eventually, the room is quite familiar to you. So, yeah, that’s it.
Q. With Battlegrounds Mobile India finally live in the nation, what are some of your thoughts regarding the game and the esports scene it will be looking to create in the country? Do you feel that its market will be self-sustaining without depending on foreign investment?
Dhiman: Battlegrounds Mobile India has finally launched itself into the arena of esports once again, after the PUBG Mobile ban, and this time the game’s potential is even bigger.
India is a self-sustaining market, to be honest. It is a land of options and ideas, and I feel that not only BGMI but all the other games released and yet to come in the mobile space like Valorant Mobile, Wild Rift, Apex Legends, etc., will be incredibly successful by 2025.
Regarding foreign investments, it’s good to know that many companies from the west are trying to enter the Indian market and potentially see its growth. The projected increase from 1.9 billion players to 2.8 billion players till 2023 is a number that speaks volumes.
For my personal thoughts, I love when people get options, which shows the true potential of a game and a tournament. For esports to grow more, we need lots of people to put their efforts into the opportunities right in front of them.
As for BGMI, the game publishers of that particular game see India as a potential market, and the partnership they are currently doing makes total sense.
Q. What are Resilience Esports’ plans for Battlegrounds Mobile India in the coming months? With the BGMI India Series 2021 almost upon us, can the community expect the org to participate in the upcoming event?
Dhiman: As for Resilience Esports, we are in talks with various people and stakeholders related to the game to create something big. And from the creator’s point of view, some of India’s biggest BGMI creators are already working with us, and it is just a matter of time before we come up with some exciting announcements.
Our teams are working day and night to make some incredible things happen, but I would definitely like to speak more about this 30-60 days from now.
Q. What are your thoughts on the current Indian Free Fire scene? What would you say are some of the biggest positives and negatives in the game at the moment?
Dhiman: The current Indian Free Fire scene is on another level. Garena has crossed 1 billion users in Free Fire which is just amazing. Booyah has a vast user base, and since Garena has been taking care of the Indian region for the last few years, this was bound to happen.
The Free Fire market is enormous in India due to its accessibility to low-end devices. This makes all genres of people play the game with equal enjoyment, and the creators of the Free Fire community are pretty creative with their content.
Overall, the publishers’ support and the audience’s love are making the game grow more prominent day by day. Personally, I talk to many people from the Free Fire scene since many streamers and creators are working with us.
As for the negatives, the game is still being optimized to make it an even better experience for the players, which I feel to be one of the best steps that Garena is taking.
As of now, I cannot see any negative prospects in the game. Let’s see how it goes in the near future. Personally, I’m a massive fan of their dedication to the Indian region.
Q. Do you feel the release of Battlegrounds Mobile India will affect Indian Free Fire in any way with respect to viewership and community participation?
Dhiman: As of now, I don’t think it’s the case because the titles have created separate communities with diversified age groups. BGMI has audiences and players who have been playing the game even when the game was unavailable in the region.
Free Fire has its own set of people, which, according to the current statistics, didn’t change even after the release of BGMI.
India has 2 billion people who play multiple games, and I guess individual game numbers will hardly get affected by this as the majority of the gamers tend to play more than one game at the same time. It’s good to see the proper statistics, to be honest.
The community makes sure to love both games in their unique ways, and it’s great to see that. I’m a big admirer of both of them, so to keep an unbiased view, I would love to see creators of both games collaborate and do something amazing for the viewers.
Let’s hope for the best and hope we can pull some rabbits out of the hat to make this happen on a larger scale.
Q. League of Legends: Wild Rift is yet to get its official release in India. What are your expectations from the game once it’s officially live in the region? What sort of impact do you think it will have on the Indian mobile esports scene?
Dhiman: The game and the name is one of the biggest in the world, or it would be correct to say that League of Legends is one of the biggest PC games ever played. Riot Games has tried to pull a lot of things in the current market in India, starting with Valorant, and now comes League of Legends: Wild Rift.
I have been in direct contact with Riot Games for a long time, and the only thing that makes me believe this game would be different from the others is the perfection they are trying to reach before releasing it in India. It is actually convincing that such game publishers are trying their level best to deliver a fully polished product in the Indian region.
Honestly, we have huge plans with them, which are already in discussion over the next few months, and let’s see if we can provide some more information regarding the impact it will have on the nation.
Personally, I feel the hard work they are putting in to make this happen will not go to waste, and with Riot Games being in the lead, they have a lot of plans to make this an essential arena in the Indian mobile esports scene.
Q. What are some of the most significant developments Resilience Esports has in store in the coming months?
Dhiman: This year, we are bringing many new things in the Indian region for most people related to esports and gaming. Not just people, even businesses that are focussing on gaming as a whole.
Some of the biggest developments will be those IPs we will be releasing later this year, which will definitely change lots of things about content and the phases of revenue generation. We are looking to be one of the major stakeholders in the industry regarding certain niches we have captured over months of research.
As for the core values of esports, I’m personally talking to a lot of parents about letting their children enter the esports arena and cultivate the core values of it, including proper education about esports, health, proper diet, etc.
When things are new in a space, many new ideologies and thought processes pan out to take various directions in the arena. Still, somebody has to take responsibility and divert things in the right direction. We definitely have some brilliant people doing that here.
I, too, am trying to play a part in that, which I am liking. Moreover, Resilience is currently topping the charts in a lot of models and ideas that we are trying. This is because success can be an art where people understand the value of three things: Power, Integrity, Ideas.
The “Power” to change something for the better is a luxury, and many people either don’t have or get a chance to realize it. Luckily, we have the opportunity and want to use it in the best possible way.
We have Integrity because, more than the skills, we trust the people and the concept we have.
Now comes the third part: Ideas, which is how we are making the difference. Just like how people say, or maybe we say, ”Curiosity begins with an act of idea.”
