Ronnie Screwvala, owner of Kabaddi franchise U Mumba in India, is reportedly going to invest up to 100 crore in Indian rupees (roughly $15 million US dollars, or just under £12 million) in an esports league called Ucypher, consisting of mobile, PC, and console esports titles.
"We have been planning an esports league for a long time now," he said, according to Sportskeeda. "We were waiting for the correct time as there was not enough participation before. However, smartphones have changed the game for Indian esports. Also, with the introduction of fibernet and cheaper pricing of consoles, number of gamers are increasing in number everyday. There will be no franchise selling in the first year, but yes we are targetting TV broadcasting."
The league will allegedly have two seasons a year, and although there are estimations the prize pool will be sizeable, there are no confirmations on what it is yet. Indian CS:GO player Ankit Panth was allegedly contacted by organisers, and he told Sportskeeda more details: "Their (Ucypher) core team is a bunch of guys who have done their homework pretty well and know about everything that's been happening. After meeting them, I can say that now we are in safe hands. These gentlemen are passionate gamers themselves and have gone through various discussions during the meeting. They were keen to know what problems does an Indian gamer face rather than boasting about their league."
Games are apparently not confirmed either, although CS:GO, FIFA, and Clash of Clans are allegedly among the contenders. Ankit said: "The format was not discussed, but we did talk about how events are organised abroad. They want to package it for television and not just online."
"If we go mainstream like this and also with UTV getting involved, it's definitely going to help. I think this move would be beneficial for a player run organisation like ours. You won't believe, I showed this article to my relatives and mom and just by reading the name Ronnie Screwala and UTV, they were more than happy and asked me if I needed some financial help, this proves that the name game has got a sense of trust with it and the figures Rs 80-100 cores, it will lure a lot of people into this."
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