We always knew that Valorant PC would do well in India: Sukamal Pegu, Head of Publishing, India and South Asia, Riot Games

Q. Moving our discussion to the Riot Games IPs. It’s no surprise that Valorant has been a massive hit in India. But in a nation that is so very inclined towards mobile esports, it’s hard for a competitive PC game to gain as much traction as Valorant did. What do you feel is the main reason behind this success? Is this something that you and your team were able to predict before the official launch?

Sukamal: Absolutely! We always knew that Valorant PC would do well in the region, considering our love for the genre. The dev team built a fantastic product, and we are super excited to bring this to our players in India with meaningful infrastructure and services.

The MVP for the success has to be our players and partners in the region. Our strategy was straightforward. Listen to our players and give them visibility. That meshed well with our partners building some pretty memorable competitive experiences with the game.

Q. India has seen a lot of Valorant tournaments ever since the official launch. Organizations like The Esports Club, Skyesports, NODWIN Gaming (to name a few) have done a tremendous job in bringing the community together and helping Valorant grow as much as it has today. In terms of success, how far do you think Valorant has come in this short period?

Sukamal: We love watching competitive events around Valorant, which our partners have been able to deliver. We are seeing some outstanding teams emerge from these events, and we hope to see more exciting esports around Valorant in 2021!

Q. With India getting its own Valorant servers, many in the community have been wondering if the nation is going to get it’s very own competitive league system, like the ones in place for League of Legends (LEC, LCS, LCK). So, is Riot considering a similar tournament system for India once the shooter’s esports scene properly kicks off?

Sukamal: We are still in the early stages for a full-fledged esports ecosystem around Valorant. League of Legends took ten years to reach where it is now, and so the expectations from Valorant are naturally very high. Valorant is still a very new game, and we will see how to best build esports around it.

Q. Let’s now get your take on the Valorant vs. CS: GO debate. This has been a hot topic of conversation in the community for a long time now. So, do you feel that Valorant is a “CS: GO” killer like so many chart it out to be? Or do you feel that both the shooters can exist side by side, not just in other regions but in the Indian esports landscape as well?

Sukamal: We hope that both games can co-exist as there is enough headroom for both. In the end, players should have fun. Remember that CS has been online for over two decades. Valorant has not even completed a year.

Q. When developing its games and bringing in future updates and balance patches, Riot is known to rely heavily on community feedback. What are the processes that Riot India has in place when listening to player grievances and identifying issues in its games?

Sukamal: Player sentiment is of immense importance to us at Riot. Our players are very vocal about their experiences, and we love that. Be it as feedback on our social channels or game support, we try to be keyed into player needs and escalate things that need to be addressed or fixed. We welcome both brickbats and the occasional bouquets as well.

Q. League of Legends was never truly able to take off in India. With DOTA 2 being the more popular MOBA, the competitive scene of LOL is abysmal, to put it lightly. Is Wild Rift an attempt at making the base game more approachable to the audience here?

Sukamal: Yes. We are very clear that we would be focussing on delivering Wild Rift as the authentic LoL experience for this region. We are still working on that promise.

Q. The Indian League of Legends community is quite divided when it comes to its choice of server. While a big chunk of the fan base prefers EU West, the rest spend most of their time in the Garena Singapore servers. Is there a possibility of India getting its own Wild Rift servers, just like Valorant, and bringing the community under one regional client?

Sukamal: As I said earlier, we try to deliver the best player experience possible for our gamers. I can answer this question closer to launch.

Q. With PUBG Mobile making a heroic return to India (courtesy of Microsoft Azure), do you think the game will be hurting Wild Rift’s chances in making it big as an esport in the region.

Sukamal: The answer to this question is the same as vis-a-vis CS vs. Valorant.

Q. Personally, which Riot IP do you love playing the most?

Sukamal: I now play card games a lot, as I like the slow-paced build-up. Runeterra is the game that I play the most, both from my mobile and PC.

Q. Before signing off, I just wanted to ask who you think is the best Valorant team and the best player in India at the moment.

Sukamal: There are way too many to mention! I love watching VLT and GlobalES, to name a few, with players like SSsami, Excali, and Rite2Ace being some of the ones I really admire for their dedication and ability to perform at clutch moments.