Chemin Esports, one of the leading Esports companies, in association with FEAI organized its next campus connect program at IIT Kanpur between 3December to 5 December 2022, to make esports the next big thing in the market. Chemin Esports had earlier announced their association with the Federation of Electronic Sports Association of India (FEAI), the national apex body for Esports in India, and had started planning tournament series around reputed Indian colleges and universities to create awareness about esports as a career opportunity and a growing community in India.
The event began on 3December 2022 with a panel discussion with personalities like, the founding directors, UP Ahead Esports Association, FEAI founding members – Sanjeev Singh and Siddharth Upadhyay, along with FEAI founding member – Abhishek Issar, and the Chemin Esports director – Diptanshu Saini, as the guest speakers for the event. The panel discussion was followed by a talk show dedicated to esports with leading esports athlete Ammar ‘destro’ Khan and Robin Singh.
The panel discussion was started by Singh praised “a strong institution like the IIT Kanpur to have supported this initiative intended for the betterment of the Esports ecosystem, in a sector that is growing at greater than 20 per cent, and such initiatives should be supported by other educational institutions from the State moving forward.” The discussion was taken forward by Upadhyay, who talked about the opportunities the in sector stating “globally, esports industry has become a multi-billion dollar business, and as Indians, we are pretty skillful when it comes close to information technology, or computers, or any electronic device, and we are very adaptive. So I am sure very soon we will have more coders, programmers, gamers, champion players, proving that there is a huge opportunity for us.” He also added “the UP Ahead Esports Association will write to the UP Govt with a submission on the Esports policy to look at formalising this sector.”
Saini talked about how the industry is growing on its own without extensive marketing and added “if you are building your career on your passion, there is no stopping, also there are massive opportunities in esports sector for everyone.”
Abhishek Issar raised a policy led question to the panel, “There are ample of opportunities for an esports athlete to be part of the ecosystem, how is Uttar Pradesh shaping out with respect to the young segment of esports?” to which Sanjeev Singh replied that “We are looking for a government policy for promotion of the sector and UP might be one of the first states to come up with such a policy.”
Tours started in November this year and one such tour was organized at the prestigious IIM Indore, where Chemin hosted the FIFA 23 tournament. The second tour was at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, where Chemin hosted Valorant, Call of Duty Mobile, 8Ball Pool and FIFA 23 tournament in their cultural fest Kaalrav 2022. The third one was at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, where Chemin esports hosted Valorant and FIFA 23 at their cultural event, Atmos 2022. The fourth tour was organized at IIT Kanpur, where Chemin eSports hosted FIFA 23 between 3December to 5December 2022. This was followed by a panel discussion.
FEAI: The tour founding member Siddhartha Upadhyay has shown immense success. Total footfall has been more than 1.1L, online reach till now has been more than 2.7L and we witnessed more than 300 participants at the event.
To support FEAI’s emphasis on developing esports across every Indian state through regional chapters, the association with Chemin Esports for the tour will lead to a more robust and faster development of esports in India. With the current outreach of FEAI and the active user base of Chemin esports of almost 1 lakh esports players globally, this program series will help both the organizations to nurture the aspiring esports talent who can become a top esports athletes in India. All participating players will also be registered as officially recognised sports players with the FEAI.
Chemin Esports director Ishan Verma, said, “As we moved onto our 4th Stop under the University Programme, I am happy to see the participation in such events. Students are eager to participate and learn about esports as a future option. The programme has just started and our aim is to cover more than 100 colleges by the end of 2023.”
Commenting on the association and tours, FEAI founding member Sanjeev Singh, said, “We are so happy to see that people are recognizing Esports; we want to spread awareness about the esports industry as a growing community in India and as a viable career option. This program will definitely be a huge one for strengthening grassroots connections. We have successfully organized the 4th campus connect program at IIT Kanpur and witnessed amazing talent and met aspiring esports enthusiasts. At last, we are sure that the association will create wonders and partnership will further boost engagement.”
The campus connect programs will be scheduled at different colleges and universities in the next four to five months across different regions such as Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Nagaland, and all other states of India. The participants will have to register themselves on FEAI’s website and there will be a two-day tournament. Every participant will receive a participation certificate, with the winners getting recognized as esports athletes by FEAI. The certificate will not only give recognition but also provide access to the FEAI roster of events throughout the calendar year. Also, the participants with huge potential, talent and enthusiasm will get a chance to be a part of the esports academy and train under the guidance of international coaches. With all these achievements, participants securing a podium finish will also receive hampers.
