Revenant Esports Gets Aggressive In Game Tech

Subsequent to making headlines with acquiring 40 per cent stakes in gaming start-up Revenant Esports, Sajan Raj Kurup, founder of Ventureland Asia, an investment division of ad firm Creativeland Asia, personifies his fervor for game tech by speaking on the company’s exciting line-up. Steering ahead and syncing with Kurup’s idea, Rohit Jagasia, Revenant’s founder, is resolute to go aggressive in the esports space with the help of new funding in place. 

The ardent gamers and entrepreneurs – Kurup and Jagasia, in conversation with BW Gamingworld’s Ojasvi Nath, share the nuances of esports, the business dynamics of it, and their immediate plans for Revenant Esports. Excerpts:

Climbing The Business Ladder

Kurup has fundamentally been following the esports industry for a while now and remains updated on gaming news flashes. He thinks pure-play esports has the potential to make it to the Olympics. While the potential being one reason, Kurup’s son also plays a lot and that is how he got interested in gaming. “There is a huge amount of watch hours that people really spend around this time. Jagasia is somebody I have known for a while. He is a gamer himself. When he came and discussed his venture, I immediately thought of just going for it,” Kurup reveals in excitement. The incredible gaming scenario in India and Jagasia’s vision matching Kurup’s brought the deal locked on the table.

Founded in 2020, Revenant’s major focus remains on partnering with the best esports athletes across the globe. Speaking on the intent, Jagasia says, it is to enrich the value of esports and its experience for players, brands, content creators, and the community at large. “We aim to be the go-to destination for casual gamers as well as pro gamers,” he adds. The plan basically is to create an engaging ecosystem that enables all endemic and non-endemic brands to use the power of esports for advertising and brand building. This is where Kurup’s experience in marketing and advertising will walk in. “My experience in advertising and brand communication comes naturally. Thus, our legacy meets well. One of the most important reasons why I invested money in it is to create a complete broadcast infrastructure,” the investor shares.

Building An Esports Brand, Eyeing Opportunities

The Indian esports industry is growing rapidly and 2021 is going to be an instrumental year for Indian Esports says the start-up founder. A lot of mobile titles like Apex Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India, League of Legends: Wild Rift are coming to India. “It will lay a huge emphasis on the Indian esports ecosystem,” an optimistic Jagasia says. With the entire fundraise, Revenant plans to be more aggressive in 2021 as "Revenant believes to be in great hands” of Ventureland Asia, which “understands the purity that Revenant” has as a brand. Jagasia is confident that Ventureland exactly knows how to grow budding brands.

Revenant post-funding managed to build a great viewership. There is an opportunity to create an incredible sort of captive media around esports. With our latest acquisition, the gaming brand got 20 million reaches. Kurup is definite about the early mover advantage because of the legacy his own advertising company shares. “We can make the most with our experience in the industry. India is a place where the entire investment community works on buzzwords. Esports has suddenly become a buzzword. “We have seen big names coming into the foray and investing. The moment our news broke, 15 of the large funds and business houses approached us. There is a buzz that’s there as far as esports is concerned,” Kurup reveals.

Investment In Gaming Needs No Right Time

The best time to start something is when the market is depressed believes the investor. He thinks this is probably a great time to take some calculated risks even though there is uncertainty in the market. Kurup also thinks that his decision for investing in esports could barely go wrong, the reason being the times we are in. Esports medium does not require going out and socialize. “With the anatomy of pandemic and how the world is right now, we are going to live in a bubble for some time. It’s not going to get normal anytime soon. This could be a great time as the new culture is beginning. I really see the gaming industry flourishing. I personally don’t see it as a big risk but more a calculated one,” Almost 90 percent of the esports audience is in the age bracket of 13-34. “This is who every brand wants to talk to or a product wants to reach out to. If there’s a way, we can aggregate them,” he opines.

Revenant's Plans And More

The start-up is currently generating a lot of in-house content and through content creators and pro players. The company also announced its roster for Battleground Mobile India, PUBG’s new version for India. There are two or more tournaments lined up on a monthly basis and the entire tournament content will be streamed on their YouTube channel and other stream partners. “In future, we would like to venture into talk shows with the best athletes, create content around the new IPs that we wish to build and also stick to our roots of creating the current content that we already are,” tells Jagasia.

Kurup concludes, “We want to build Revenant as a platform that works at the heart of esports in India where we want to create a vertically integrated market. This includes a plan for content creation and dissemination of that content to millions of spectators and enthusiasts across the world. We also somewhere want to be leaders in competitive esports and work on our virtual capacity as well. There is also a focus on creating content division in the gaming arena. Fans are deeply engaged with this sort of content.” Revenant has taken initiative to bring the best women teams in the country and build an all-women team. The mission is to create the top five women team from India through Revenant.