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Mutation Esports is one of the fastest growing esports companies in India for Call of Duty: Mobile. Interestingly, the organization began as a humble Facebook group called 'CALL OF DUTY: MOBILE (INDIA)' in 2019 and has since grown into an esports giant in the country.
The company is well-known for organizing various online and offline esports tournaments as well as hosting various community events with gamers from all over India. One of their most recent highlights is their official partnership with Activision Blizzard for the promotion and engagement of Call of Duty: Mobile within the Indian gaming community.
I recently had a chance to interview Kyle Beale, who is the company's Co-founder and Director. He provided detailed overviews on various topics, such as the foundation of his company and their future plans, an insider story on their official partnership with Activision Blizzard, the current esports scenario in India, and much more.
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Kyle Beale on Call of Duty: Mobile, Warzone Mobile, company's foundations, future plans, and more
Q. Being the founder of such a renowned esports company like the Mutation eSports is definitely something to be very proud of. What is the story behind the inception of this company, and what were the challenges you faced early on?
Answer: We founded Mutation Esports as a Private Registered Company to offer Indian gamers a complete gaming ecosystem that they can enjoy and contribute to. We began as a Facebook group called “CALL OF DUTY: MOBILE (INDIA)”, which was founded in 2019 by my Mutation Esports co-founders Sunil Meena (CFO of Mutation Esports) and Rahul Singh (COO of Mutation Esports), two months prior to the launch of Call of Duty: Mobile.
We are now recognized by Activision Blizzard as an official partner and are India's biggest Facebook group for Call of Duty: Mobile. In fact, we gave out more than 30,00,000 COD Points and Rs 2,50,000 INR in cash for Call of Duty: Mobile events last year!
One of the biggest challenges was changing the name of our organization from “CALL OF DUTY: MOBILE (INDIA)” to Mutation Esports. We made this decision last year to create a distinct brand and identity, which has allowed us to create a greater impact on the Indian esports and gaming ecosystem as a whole. This rebrand was quite polarizing for our community and lost us more than 10% of our followers, but it was a necessary step for our growth. What has always been vital for us is the trust that the Indian community has in us, that we shall always stay true to our objective to create special experiences for them.
We had fairly humble beginnings. I remember that our first-ever Call of Duty: Mobile tournament only had a prize pool of Rs 1,000 INR. But the outpouring of love and appreciation from our community of players motivated us to do more, from esports to activities like giveaways and challenges (for example, creating memes and fanart), Mutation Esports is now the fastest growing esports company in India for Call Of Duty: Mobile.
Q. The current esports scene in India doesn't look too bright, with the government banning so many popular mainstream games. How has Mutation eSports been able to navigate all of these issues and achieve its commendable success in the bleak esports scene of India?
Answer: Esports in India has certainly experienced a rollercoaster ride for a few years and there are still plenty of challenges, especially on the regulatory front. While these have definitely sowed uncertainty into the local esports ecosystem, we believe that esports is still only in its budding stages and has significant potential to grow.
Thankfully for us, Mutation eSports hasn't been too negatively impacted during these turbulent times since our primary focus has always been Call of Duty: Mobile. In fact, the regulatory bans on some of the most popular mainstream mobile games have forced the community to explore alternative titles within the genre, leading to an increased interest in Call of Duty: Mobile, as it's a AAA, stable, and well-balanced game. We also continue to receive support and investment from Activision Blizzard, which has allowed us to better support our community.
Call of Duty: Mobile has unique value propositions, which set it apart from other mobile shooting games. These include having a significantly different fan base, with many of its players having a personal connection to the Call of Duty brand and its characters, having played various video games within the franchise before mobile gaming was even popular.
To many, Call of Duty represents more than just a Battle Royale or Multiplayer First-Person Shooter game. They’re an opportunity to revisit our favorite characters whom we’ve been playing with since the early 2000s. With Warzone Mobile expected to launch globally later this year, it’s gonna be off the hook!
Q. As we all know, Activision Blizzard is a huge name in the esports and gaming industry with so many successful games under their belt. What's the insider story on Mutation Esports' partnership with Call of Duty: Mobile?
Answer: Activision Blizzard has been an amazing partner ever since we began collaborating in 2021. Initially, we’d been approached by them to be a member of the Call of Duty: Mobile Creator Club, an incubator program for local creators to help them grow their platforms.
As part of the program, we’d receive 20,000 CP every month, all of which we reinvested into our community to create fun events for them to enjoy. It wasn’t long before they took note of how highly engaged and passionate our group was, which led to bigger and better events, and the rest is history.
One of last year’s highlights from our partnership was when Activision Blizzard commissioned Mutation Esports to be the official production house for the first-ever Call Of Duty: Mobile Music Album (that's now available on Spotify and Amazon Music), which was produced by Madplug, Nasty Ninja, Leon Mylan, and myself. We also hosted Call of Duty: Mobile’s first-ever live DJ event to celebrate the new year with our players in India, which was posted on the official Call of Duty: Mobile YouTube channel.
Looking back, one of the things we did right was to focus on growth rather than profit. We understand the importance of having the right mindset to build a community, and that if we invested in our people, they would similarly reinvest back into us, creating a flywheel effect.
As such, we’ve continued activities to support and engage the community, including hosting giveaways and competitions, sponsoring up-and-coming creators, and of course, esports activities. With Warzone Mobile expected to launch globally soon, we’re hoping to further expand our esports operations in India and get more casual players involved.
Q. Partnering with such an industry giant like Activision is a very remarkable achievement for a new company. So, what's in store for the future of Mutation Esports?
Answer: We have a lot lined up for 2023 and beyond! While I can't go into specifics, I can give an overview of a few things that Indian gamers can look forward to. To start off, we’re on course to launch our own clothing line, where we’ll be partnering up with the biggest names in the Indian music/gaming industry.
We’ll also be launching a Software Development Team called Mutation Studios, where we’ll provide up-and-coming organizations and online creators with better software solutions that they can use for their marketing and esports activities. Finally, Mutation Esports will be launching our own app as well, which will revolutionize how gamers in India and the rest of the world connect with each other. More updates to come!
Q. We have many young readers who are very interested in being a professional in the esports industry. What are some pieces of advice that you would like to highlight for them?
Answer: It’s hugely encouraging to see how enterprising Indian gamers have become. It used to be that only competitive gamers could make a living from their trade, but in recent times, we've seen just how lucrative and expansive the industry can be.
Speaking from personal experience, as a business owner who has built this community from the ground up, here are a few ideas that worked well for Mutation eSports:
- Create a USP (Unique Selling Point) that you know is lacking in the industry. For us, we saw the opportunity in the lack of tournaments in India – despite a community overflowing with talent and passion. As such, we doubled down on providing players with more premium tournament experiences, which steadily attracted new gamers into the ecosystem.
- Analyse. Adapt. Execute. These three words sum up how we operate. Constantly analyzing your target audiences is critical so that you are always in touch with what they need and able to adapt and execute your offerings to these audiences. For us, Mutation Esports is seeing increasing demand for gaming merchandise and has spurred us on to create our own clothing line. Additionally, we know how one of the biggest challenges for Indian tournaments is registrations, so we’re coming up with better software solutions to address this need in the near future.
- Open communication with your community. This might sound simple, but requires deliberate and consistent execution to work. It’s also important to create a feedback loop that you can rely on to help guide your decision-making; after all, it’s not a community if only a handful of people are being heard. For Mutation Esports, we deal with thousands of players daily, so it’s impossible to keep everyone happy all the time. However, we pride ourselves by always making sure to be transparent with why we do what we do, and our community loves that. We are even hosting our first ever Call of Duty: Mobile x Mutation Esports community meet event in Kolkata this month. We’re looking to do this in all the primary cities in India soon!
Q. Esports is such a growing industry in India, with small tournaments being organized in every nook and corner of the country. What are your thoughts on the impact of these small events on the overall growth of esports scenes in India?
Answer: Community tournaments and events play a massive role in growing esports at the grassroots level and forming the foundation for large-scale events by empowering individuals to impact their immediate communities.
In fact, such is their importance in any esports ecosystem that Mutation Esports has an entire team to monitor such events. In India alone, we have multiple Discord servers and Call of Duty: Mobile content creators – such as 2Noob4U; Ballu Gaming and KGI to name a few – hosting such activities on a daily basis and we’re proud to share that we’ve sponsored some of their events.
Whether it’s a Rs 500 giveaway tournament or a Rs 50 Lakh LAN event, each of them creates impact, and they all contribute to creating a vibrant community. Also, these events allow us to keep our fingers on the pulse as well as to test and learn from new ideas, allowing us to better create future projects which players can better connect with and enjoy.
Q. Call of Duty has always been a major esports title all over the world. But its impact on gamers in India have always been negligible before the launch of COD: Mobile. What was different about this game that drew such a huge player base among Indian gamers?
Answer: Call of Duty is a household name to most gamers in India. However, the barrier to entry has always been extremely high due to the cost of a PC or gaming platform. I remember being 15 years old dreaming of owning a Rs 50,000 PC, but being too afraid to ask my parents for it because I knew we couldn’t afford it. The workaround? Go to the home of a friend or relative who was blessed with a PC or console!
Call of Duty: Mobile changed that by offering gamers the Call of Duty experience on mobile. Being a mobile-first region, many of us already had devices we could use to play the game and now, we were able to play on our favorite maps and as our favorite Operators from the franchise, in the palm of our hands. No other title has such a vibrant history with gamers in India, and I believe this is why it struck a chord with the local community and is a key reason for the longevity of the title today, which is quite uncommon for mobile games.
Q. Warzone Mobile is just around the corner, and has already drawn a lot of interest from Indian mobile gamers. As such, will Mutation Esports form a roster for this title?
Answer: Mutation Esports doesn’t have an esports team and isn't currently looking to start one as we’d prefer to leave that to organizations that already specialize in this. Our focus has been and will continue to remain on our community.
We’re incredibly excited for Warzone Mobile and have plenty of events lined up for our Indian community, although I can't disclose too much information right now. One thing which I’m certain of – Warzone Mobile will definitely take India by storm, and Mutation eSports will be right in the center of it!
Q. Indian esports has seen the advent of quite a few successful teams in recent times. Which one does Mutation Esports consider as their biggest rival, and why?
Answer: As cliche as it might sound, we consider Mutation Esport’s biggest rival to be ourselves. Our current priority is to further improve our esports offerings and ecosystem so that we can give our community what they deserve – the best experience possible.
As such, we’ve been working around the clock to plan and execute bigger and better events so we can only keep outdoing ourselves. Recently, we’ve been having daily meetings with our research and development teams to identify esports trends and how we can improve our services to the community; we can’t wait to integrate the results of that in the coming months.
Q. Recently, two of the top Indian esports teams participated in the Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship 2022, but their performance left much to be desired. What do you think that Indian esports teams are lacking that's preventing them from being competitive at the world stage?
Answer: India was represented by some of the most talented players in the country and we’re proud that we had such strong representation on the global stage. I’m sure the teams will go home with important lessons learned, but also hope that we can further develop the ecosystem to help them and other competitive hopefuls fulfil the immense, but untapped, potential that we have.
For example, I think we could do with better infrastructure and investment into the local esports scene, as well as more international esports events so that our players can test their skills on a bigger stage. I also feel that we can do more to support our representatives by sending them love and encouragement, regardless of the results.
After all, we’re all on the same team, and it’s much easier for viewers to sit in front of our screens and criticize, but it's completely different to what the competitors are experiencing. In any case, Mutation Esports will continue to support the Call of Duty: Mobile scene by introducing bigger and better events, both online and offline, with the ambition to grow India’s esports ecosystem one tournament at a time.
All in all, Kyle and his company Mutation Esports are doing an admirable job in expanding Call of Duty: Mobile within the Indian esports community.
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