MPL co-founder calls for clarity in e-sports regulations to boost digital sports industry
Mobile Premier League co-founder Sai Srinivas, who recently led the company closer to being a unicorn with a couple of rounds of investments within the last six months, has stated that there must be some clarity regarding the regulations for e-sports, which he believes will provide a major boost to the growing digital sports industry.
"I believe that India is at a point where the future of gaming and e-sports in the next five years will be significantly driven by this market. It is India's chance to actually build its own digital infrastructure and build really scalable platforms and not only serve India, but also export a lot of these platforms to other countries like the US," Mobile Premier League (MPL) co-founder Sai Srinivas told PTI.
MPL is one of the leading gaming companies in the country, with over 500 employees working for them in various locations around the country. The company recently raised USD 225.5 million in funding from investors including Composite Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Base Partners, RTP Global, SIG and others. The funding helped them put their valuation at USD 945 million post the deal.
Srinivas feels that the growing popularity of the esports tournaments see gamers competing from various locations around the world and the simplification of the same would do a world of good.
"I don't think it's hard for us to imagine where, say, an American sitting in New York is competing with a player in Brazil, someone from Berlin, and a player in Muzaffarabad in India. All of them are actually competing in this massive tournament via their mobile phones," he said.
"We need to have clarity in terms of regulations, in terms of defining what e-sports is, defining what competitive skill gaming is, and very clearly drawing a line between that and other games that might be games of chance, casino-led games, etc. India and Indian companies are not only going to build really massive enterprises on this, but will be the net exporters of this technology,” he added.
