“India is poised to be among the top gaming markets globally”: Mr. Jaganathan Chelliah, Senior Director-Marketing - India, Middle East and Africa, Western Digital

There have been a lot of conversations surrounding the growth of gaming and Esports in India and South Asia. While some attribute the development solely to the mobile scene, there are others who feel that PC gaming is just as important, and the two platforms together will spearhead the market to reach greater heights in the near future.

Mr. Jaganathan Chelliah, Senior Director-Marketing, India, ME & Africa, Western Digital, is one of many who feel that mobile and PC gaming complement each other in the nation's Esports market.

In a conversation with Abhishek Mallick of Sportskeeda Esports, he opens up about his thoughts on the current state of gaming in the region, the hopes surrounding the center's decision to set up an AVGC task force, and the role that Western Digital is playing to help catapult the growth of Esports in India.

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Jaganathan Chelliah on the growth of gaming in India and South Asia

Q. Sir, tell us a bit about your thoughts on the current state of the Indian Esports and video games industry, and where do you see it in the next couple of years?

Jaganathan Chelliah: With one of the world's youngest populations, India is poised to be among the top gaming markets globally. While the industry was already witnessing tremendous growth, this boost has been further propelled in the last two years, as users turn to multiplayer gaming as means to stay connected and entertained during lockdowns.

In addition to its gaining popularity and increasing social acceptance, the center's decision to set up an AVGC promotion task force would further fuel the growth of this industry rather exponentially.

With support from the government, this initiative would bring in massive opportunities for India’s youth and further help recognize gaming as a viable career option. Another catalyst to the growth of the Esports ecosystem in India is the Esports debut as a medal event at the Asian Games 2022.

So, as we witness the rise in the professional gaming industry, such platforms and initiatives will give a very strong boost to the industry in the country over the next couple of years, resulting in it becoming a major employment generator.

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Q. Talk to us about Western Digital and their motto on creating platforms, like the WD_BLACK Cup that help grassroot talents grow and develop in the Esports scene. With season 2 of the WD_BLACK Cup over with, what were some of your expectations from the event this time around? How much of it would you say were met?

Jaganathan Chelliah: The gaming landscape in the country is hot right now, with more and more gaming enthusiasts turning to professional gaming. Today’s gamers are on the lookout for an ultimate and wholesome gaming experience, which is more interactive, complex, social, and feels more personalized.

Considering this, we at Western Digital, envisioned the WD_BLACK CUP, a tournament organized for the ultimate gamers. Through this, we wish to bring together an ecosystem that promotes the gaming community and celebrate the innovations in this space with a full-throttle experience.

The WD_BLACK Cup plays a major role for passionate gamers as it features some of the best gaming influencers and Esports players. The WD_BLACK Cup will further empower gamers to push their boundaries and experience competitive and immersive gaming.

Following the great success of the first edition of WD_BLACK Cup in India, we recently concluded the bigger and better Season 2 of the Esports Tournament. The 19-day long gaming marathon featured some of the most seasoned gaming influencers and Esports players, with around 200 participating teams.

Not only that, the WD_BLACK Cup 2 was viewed by over 8 million Esports enthusiasts, making it one of the biggest Esports extravaganzas of its kind in the country.

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Q. Mobile gaming has been far more popular in a market like India. Now with the release of Valorant, the PC has grown considerably over the last 2 years. Do you think that the gap between the two platforms will close in the coming years?

Jaganathan Chelliah: Mobile Gaming and PC both complement each other in the industry and mobile gaming is fuelling the growth of PC gaming. People are experiencing 3D games, adventure games in the genre of battle royale on their mobile and now they're looking for a much richer and more immersive experience through large screens.

Players who play Valorant and COD on their smartphones are now graduating to playing it on the PCs. Also, the other aspect that is driving the growth in the recent adoption of PCs is work from home and online learning.

The popularity of gaming, including Esports, has surged through the pandemic that has restricted mobility beyond home. The category expanded 12% in 2020, even as the growth was curtailed by a ban on PUBG.

The online gaming segment expanded 18% in 2020 to reach Rs 7,700 crore, said a FICCI-EY report. The number of gamers should reach 440 million by 2022, from about 360 million last year

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Q. Western Digital recently launched their WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe SSD, which is regarded as the new benchmark for the organization.

Talk to us about some of the vision that went behind this piece of computer hardware, and the sort of importance that it will hold in the lives of gamers and content creators today.

Jaganathan Chelliah: The WD_BLACK SN770 NVMe SSD features a PCIe Gen4 interface that delivers read speeds of up to 5,150MB/s (1TB and 2TB models) to fuel in-game responsiveness, minimize stutter, and provide smooth streaming for a performance boost.

In addition, it also comes with WD_BLACK Dashboard and Acronis True Views software which will help gamers migrate their machine seamlessly. The vision behind launching this product is to anticipate the PC gaming community a variety of reliable, high-performing solutions to level up their gaming rigs

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Q. What do your thoughts on the current professional gaming scene in India, and how players are using this industry to monetize their craft?

Jaganathan Chelliah: Professional gaming in India has become viable for the past many years as the game pool is increasing and the number the of gaming tournaments coming up today.

The kind of recognition and viewership the professional gaming is getting, the players are able to consider this as a viable career option and go that extra mile to invest in relevant hardware to propel their gaming.

The lockdown also saw an exponential surge in gaming influencers and full-time streamers. They are also able to monetize on the basis of their popularity and are influencers of their domains.

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Q. With ever-growing popularity, the Indian gaming industry is seeing a rise of gamers who tend towards DIY Gaming rigs and setup.

Talk to us about some of your thoughts regarding this, the importance of customized setups, and the role that internal storages play in avoiding bottleneck.

Jaganathan Chelliah: There is no doubt that PC Gaming is growing at an appreciable pace and is set to witness its golden age in the upcoming few years. What started as a means to fight the lockdown blues at home has now turned into a full-time profession for many, with more and more people turning into devoted gamers.

So, in their quest for an immersive experience, gamers are quickly graduating to PC-based gaming, as it offers a much better experience compared to smartphone gaming.

The trend of building a DIY Gaming ring has increased due to the career opportunities that are available in the country today for PC Gamers. Rapid advancements in PC consoles offer next-gen competitive gaming experiences through powerful components.

Correct hardware equipment like CPU, storage drives, consoles, etc. go a long way in marking the essential difference between a novice and a pro player. This is why now gamers are going that extra mile to invest in relevant hardware to propel their gaming.

A key component for enhancing and optimizing PC performance and increasing the overall gameplay experience is undoubtedly internal storage; and the results from the ‘Next-Gen Gamers’ survey, conducted by Western Digital, reveal the same.

Nearly 57% of PC Gamers highlight slow storage as the biggest pain-point for a poor gameplay experience. Hence, it’s vital that gamers invest in storage devices that are known for aiding in the completion of a task at lightning speed, and a solid-state drive (SSD) enables that.

The right storage solution offers not only faster speeds and minimal load times, but enhances the overall gameplay experience. So, be it console gaming, mobile gaming, or cloud, our goal is to make sure that we consistently build the right and optimal storage solutions that support and power any of the devices, under our WD_BLACK portfolio.

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Q. Western Digital has previously partnered with a lot of third-party tournament organizers to bring a variety of events to the scene. What do you feel about the roles that these organizations play in helping the region's esports scene grow?

Jaganathan Chelliah: Esports tournaments and organizations provide an exceptional platform for up-and-coming gamers to test out their capabilities and gain exposure by interacting with some of the best gamers across the country.

Due to the pandemic, and social distancing norms, the past few years have been long and hard and most of the gamers had missed some stiff competition. So, I believe such events provide the perfect opportunity as it is the ultimate networking zone aimed at further strengthening the gamers’ ecosystem in order to learn from each other and thrive.

Additionally, the existence of such tournaments, recognized globally with attractive price pools, leads to the development of an ecosystem where gamers can monetize from their passion and build a career.

Such platforms also create an opportunity for marketers to connect with their audience through interesting storytelling, with in-gaming advertising.

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Q. The Budget 2022 has been quite favorable for the AVGC sector. As a task force is in the works for it, what kind of growth can industry leaders expect from the Indian video games and Esports market as a result? How much of it do you feel will benefit the PC scene more?

Jaganathan Chelliah: We have a good ecosystem for organizations building games in India. This will act as an incentive for them to develop hi-end and immersive 3D games, which will reflect the needs of both the international and domestic markets.

This will turn into an important job creation sector for graphic designers, content creators, and animation experts. As a result, they can come together and pitch domestic and global projects. This will fuel the growth of the gaming industry in India.