Inspired by my son to take up esports career: Fnatic India lead Nimish 'Nemo' Raut 

Fnatic’s entry into the Indian esports market late in 2019 legitimized the growth and stature of the country’s ever-growing mobile gaming community. From a casual pastime to getting investment from one of the world’s top esports organisations, esports had finally cemented its place in the Indian mainstream. And that was in no small part due to the nation’s love for the behemoth that is PUBG Mobile.

In the recent past several titles came and went, but they merely scratched the surface of India’s potential esports user base. That was where PUBG Mobile stepped in; its user-friendly interface coupled with the influx of cheap data and smartphone availability made PUBG Mobile the top esports title on the country's competitive scene.

The British organization Fnatic, which owns several competitive esports teams, recently handed all of India’s operations to former Riot Games’ Senior Manager Nimish ‘Nemo’ Raut. Raut's five-year proposal for Fnatic was given a green signal, and it promises to mark a new journey in the Indian esports community.

With a unique mix of experience from the finance, traditional sports and event management fields, Nemo’s transition to esports over the past decade has seen him become one of India's top industry professionals. In a recent interaction with Sportskeeda, Nemo talked at length about his tenure with Riot Games, the future of Fnatic PUBG Mobile, the surge of esports content consumption during the COVID-19 lockdown, Fnatic India’s five-year plan and his past decade in esports.

Excerpts:

Q. Esports has been an unlikely beneficiary of the COVID-19 lockdown. From tournament organisers to players and streamers, everyone has benefited from this sudden influx of viewership. Do you think this surge will remain intact post-pandemic?

A part of me wants this to be a constant, I want more and more people to be aware of esports as an area of investment. However, the reality is that once the market opens up, there is going be enough action beyond the world of esports; there will be diversity, brands would look at other areas of marketing from other sports.

As an ecosystem, esports would be just another opportunity for marketing of certain brands. For certain companies/players, it will become bread and butter, but eventually we will have to start competing with cricket, football and other entertainment products.

We have a head-start in terms of reach and what we can deliver. It’s up to us as an industry to keep innovating and reinventing; if we can produce or offer something unique, there will be buyers for sure.

Q. If you look at the worldwide esports market, it's primarily PC or Console, with mobile making up a small share of the pie. However, the stats show that the situation is very different in India. For someone like you who has worked within the PC esports ecosystem, how would you describe the Indian market currently?

Honestly, I think it’s quite subjective. India is not a unique market. I think the introduction of the platform is different. In the USA and Europe, people grow up with PC and Console. In India, due to price sensitivity, the first experience a child has on the internet is a mobile phone.

The platform is different but the concept is the same, and it is unique to India and certain other markets. But as the gap between mobile, console and PC shrinks in terms of actual output and creativity, there will be cross-pollination of these platforms.

Mobile players will approach better opportunities in PC and console and vice versa, for ease and convenience. The platform won’t matter; the game matters, and how quickly the game can maneuver between all these platforms.

Q. You come from a sports background, having worked with Red Bull, Star and other companies such as ICL. What learnings from your time at traditional sports companies do you apply to the esports market, as a first mover?

The important thing for me was to identify a trend that is going to be sustainable for the next-gen consumer. I have crossed the stage where I would be relevant to brands. When I look at younger gen, and brands like Redbull and Star, we are looking at the kind of affiliation that we would want to have 10 years down the line before deciding what product we will target with them.

I took inspiration from my seven-year-old my son. The amount of energy on physical sport outside is the same as it is on digital content. The next-gen consumer is going to be digitally savvy; it’s going to be natural consumption for them.

Similar to TV, they are growing up with YouTube. That’s when I decided to make this move

Also, video games are beyond just a sport. They give you digital literacy, which is the need of the hour. It’s a much larger platform for digital literacy and it is important to understand the navigation of the web and the dark side of the net in this day and age.

It can be a good platform to educate your children about the good and the bad of the internet, along with teaching them how to be safe on the internet.

Q. You started your career in the finance industry in 2004, then switched base to traditional sports and then finally migrated to esports. Can you talk about the transition periods, and what you learned from each field?

Finance was glamorous then. I was attracted to the aura around the profession, and you know numbers always helped. It pushed me in a good position to understand P&L, numbers and projections, which are important to know when you want to grow your business.

Sports was my all-time love, so it was a natural progression. I handled multiple areas such as marketing, sales and the creative side of it as well, so in sport I was like a jack of all trades, master of none. Eventually, my dream job was a place to create on my own, and give back to the community something that exists 10 years down the line.

The transition has been very organic; for me a new industry is always a challenge to learn new things and unlearn certain things. As long as you’re open to these things, then the transition is very smooth. I’ve also had great support from the people around me during that time.

Q. During your time at Riot you worked in the SEA esports community, which is also renowned for having a strong mobile esports ecosystem. Do you see any similarities between the Indian and SEA mobile esports markets?

I think there are certain similarities and certain differences. A major difference between both markets is distribution. In Indonesia and Thailand, the data consumption is as good as in India and also cheaper at times. However, the way the distribution happens and the way the brands have marketed their digital products are different.

The per capita spending power is a lot higher in these places. On average, a person would spend $20-30 in Vietnam in a year, against around $1 in India.

A lot of work needs to be done for distribution in these games, in terms of consumption of in-game items. Paytm has helped the buying activities in some titles, but the willingness of the consumer to spend money in the game in India is yet to reach the base level.

The reason could be cultural; maybe Indians don’t want to spend money in-game, or publishers need to work harder to make them spend money on virtual products. We are very far away from some of these SEA markets.

Q: How did the name Nemo come to you?

A: It’s inspired from the movie Finding Nemo. I got this name in college as I was mostly absent, and people would say, “Where is Nemo?" That’s how the name came up.

People kept calling me Nemo because according to them there was no difference in my personality and the fish's. Over the years, a resemblance with Aquaman also came up, as I looked similar in terms of my hair and beard. But they eventually went back to calling me Nemo again, so I stuck with it!

Q. Coming to Fnatic, can you talk to us more about how you landed the job? You joined in December 2019, but if I'm not wrong that was two months after Riot. So how did all of it happen?

I was in Singapore with no plans of returning to India. I was told by the Riot guys that I might have to move to Vietnam as Riot was keen on opening a studio there, but I was not very keen on that.

Around that time Fnatic entered the Indian market. I knew Patrick (caRN) from earlier because of my time in Riot. It was almost a two-month interview process. They let me put across a business proposal for Fnatic for the next five years, and they ended up liking it and approved the budget before asking, 'When can you start?'

They made the offer, the management approved it and I flew to India; within a few days I was working for Fnatic India.

Q. The Fnatic rising program is not very new to Fnatic. In Europe they had the Fnatic Academy, and players like Golden transitioning to the first team. Are you targeting something similar here?

The Rising program in India is slightly different. The player who gets selected from India rising program will directly get a pro contract and play for the main team in India, which is slightly different from outside where there was an Academy team first.

Q. Free Fire and COD Mobile are in the infancy stage of growth as esports titles. But are they something Fnatic India is looking to focus on considering the massive player base? Team liquid picked up a Free Fire team recently.

Yes, they are looking into these two titles actively. The announcement will be coming very soon for a COD mobile team, at a global level. However, the reality is that the ecosystem is not ready for such a huge investment.

Fnatic doesn’t want to own a team without profit. The ecosystem is not sufficient to even afford paying players a proper salary right now. Till the time we don’t see a clear pathway for this to be successful and sustainable, will sit on the fence on it.

Q. There has been a lot of talk about the roster controversy lately. What are the qualities you are looking for in players, and when can we expect the new roster announcement?

The values that Fnatic and I stand for is that you need to be loyal, you need to dream big, you need to be extremely humble and you need to be a team player. If we delve into some of the controversies, all the players showed these qualities, even if some showed them less than the others.

However, the reality is that they did not click as a team. We are trying to build a roster around someone like Owais, who is extremely humble and loyal. We want to portray Owais as the kind of leader everyone can look up to. We want all the players to project similar qualities, apart from their in-game prowess.

We have already made one change. Hopefully, it will be announced by the end of the month and people will find out about the 2-3 players joining Fnatic’s PUBG Mobile roster soon.

Q. A lot of esports organizations have content creators. Will the loco partnership be something similar for Fnatic?

I look at content very very differently, I don’t want to comment on Indian organizations and their content. They make as much content as they want but can’t monetise it, and if you can’t monetise content, it’s as good as tissue paper.

I’m going to invest in making good content to be sold and not make peanuts through YouTube. I want to make content and big platforms buying that content from us.

Our idea of content is someone putting in a million-dollar cheque and buying it from us, and if that’s not going to happen then that content is worthless for me. Now, only time will tell if that approach works.

Q. You have been a strong advocate of mental health in esports, and several teams have also found success in doing so. Does the Indian roster also focus on that?

I completely believe in that. I feel even if we had a mental coach to help us out, Fnatic would have fewer controversies.

We need mental coaches in esports. We tried with his ex-wife who is a life coach. We did one camp with her, and hopefully in the future we can work more with her.

I hope to work more with such people to make our players mentally strong and inculcate positive personality changes.

Q. Do you think the PC esports industry is dying a slow death in India? DOTA 2 is almost dead, CS: GO is hanging in there by the skin of its teeth; would you say India's future is mobile-first?

I think it’s a very tricky situation right now for PC esports. There is a market for PC, but the games are a question mark. It takes just one title to change things around, you know.

Hence, I wouldn’t consider PC games to be dead. It just takes one title to come in and revive it. More publishers will make good games, and until then the PC market will have a chance to bounce back.

There could be a phase where people won’t play PC games much, but until the time PC games are made, there will always be an opportunity for them to bounce back.

Q: What is the end goal of Fnatic India’s five-year plan?

I would have to divide this into two or three parts. The first would be to become the number one entertainment and lifestyle esports brand in this country. I think we are already there, but due to low and narrow competition, we have got more to do. No other brand comes close to us when it comes to being an entertainment and lifestyle brand.

The second would be, we would like to be profitable. Surprisingly in year one, although operations are still not over, we will be breaking even in the Indian market. That’s very important. I want to be profitable, I want to be making money - and not just depending on European markets to fund our Indian business.

The third will be to create a sustainable pillar beyond esports. Content is one, apparel and peripherals is another one; I want every pillar of our brand to be profitable shortly.

The last one would be that I want to build a brand that fans love, and that people love and grow the popularity beyond PUBG Mobile. We would like to target the addition of 3-4 more titles soon.