ESPL returns for Season 2 with 1cr prize pool

Esports Premier League (ESPL) has roped in TECNO Mobile as its Presenting Sponsor for the second edition of the country’s first franchise-based league for gaming after the overwhelming success of the inaugural edition.

This year’s league is set to engage gamers across the country in high-voltage action with the most popular battle royale game, BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA (BGMI), which carries a prize pool of ?1 crore. The champion team will take home ?50 lakh, while the second- and third-placed teams will bag ?25 lakh and ?10 lakh respectively. The top sixteen teams will be awarded cash prizes, and the Most Valuable Player Award winner will be richer by ?1 lakh.

The upcoming edition of the ESPL will kickstart registrations on June 15 and matches on June 21.

Vishwalok Nath, Director, ESPL, commented:

“The first season of the Esports Premier League was a great success and this time we will try to make it even bigger. We are thrilled to have TECNO Mobile on board as the title sponsor for this event. Just like how TECNO Mobile is committed to unlocking the best contemporary technologies for its customers, we are also committed to providing a world-class platform for Indian talent through this league in order to develop the Indian esports ecosystem, taking it to the next level.

“Every season we plan to do something different in order to take the league to the next level. The upcoming edition will also be action-packed, especially with players fighting it out on the BGMI esports maps which is a very popular title among the gaming community. This platform is for our athletes and they are equally excited. ESPL is a game-agnostic tournament to ensure that India Today Group offers the maximum opportunities to gamers across the nation.“

Arijeet Talapatra, CEO, TECNO Mobile India, said:

“India’s gaming community is witnessing a boom and growing exponentially at a rate of 38% per annum. The Indian gaming industry is estimated to be valued at US$3.9+ billion by 2025. These developments have heightened gamers’ expectations from the technology sector and there is an increased demand for better and more powerful gaming devices with high-end processors, augmented speed and longer battery life. We have been driving this revolution with our feature-rich gaming devices under the ‘POVA’ series, which targets the mid-range segment. 

“With the POVA product line, we are determined to provide Indian smartphone consumers with a trinity of speed, power and performance that supplements the Zillenials’ never-ending hustle and further motivates them to ‘Stop at Nothing’. Our association with ESPL is bringing us forward towards achieving the same goal. We are looking ahead to a valuable partnership to create a more exciting online gaming ecosystem.“

The league will be played in two separate stages in the initial phase — online qualifiers as well as an invitational qualifier — to shortlist the top sixteen teams. The first twelve teams, top two teams from the online event and top ten teams from the invitational qualifiers will progress directly into the final stage and compete for the top two spots in the final. The teams ranked third to tenth in the online qualifiers and the ones ranked from eleventh to eighteenth from invitational qualifiers will compete for the other top two spots available in the finals. The finals will also witness two direct invited teams competing and vying for the title.

The Inaugural season of the ESPL recorded more than one million registrations and 100 million-plus video views as the action was streamed LIVE on the official YouTube and Facebook channels of India Today and Aaj Tak and their websites.

Professional athletes as well as esports enthusiasts above the age of 16 can participate in ESPL Season 2. Interested esports players and fans need to be ready on June 13 for the registration phase. The last date for registration is June 20. Each team should have a minimum of four members.