Two major takeaways from the Paytm First Games x Riot Games webinar

To those unaware, Paytm First Games on Tuesday held a webinar in collaboration with Riot Games India and other online personalities like Gagandeep “Sikhwarrior” Singh, Tejas “Ace” Sawant and Kiran “ShaDeSLaYer” Noojibail.

Presiding over the meeting (which was hosted live) were Shudhanshu “AnAthEmA” Gupta (Chief Operations Officer at PFG), Anurag “Kn1ghtm@r3” Khurana (Esports consultant of PFG) and Sukamal “trashhead00” Pegu (Head of Publishing, Riot Games South Asia).

The panel brushed over some important topics, one of which was the launch of the Valorant South Asia server. They also discussed plans to launch a Legends of Runeterra circuit for the region as well as bringing Wild Rift into focus in South East Asia.

Here's a look at the two major takeaways from the webinar:

1. South Asia will be getting its very own Valorant server

Valorant (Image Credits: Riot Games)

Sukamal “trashhead00” Pegu yesterday confirmed that South Asia will be getting its very own Valorant server before December 2020.

Although this piece of information was given by Riot Games executives during Valorant’s official launch, it’s quite nice to have a secondary confirmation of the same.

Pegu also talked about the response that Valorant got in the region. According to him, the support has been incredible, especially from the player base in India. He added that it is because of them that the esports scene of the game is poised for success in the coming months.

The panellists revealed that the main goal they have for Valorant is to generate an ‘ecosystem’ that creates a platform on the grassroots level to hone local talents and help the best players in the region compete on an international scale. Partners and tournament organisers will play key roles because of this.

The panellists also discussed the importance of content creators when it comes to the growth of this ecosystem.

2. Wild Rift will be a big thing in South Asia

League of Legends (Image Credits: Riot Games)

Riot Games' other MOBA League of Legends wasn’t able to gain much popularity in the region. The webinar panellists, therefore, highlighted the importance of Wild Rift in a nation that prefers ‘handheld’ gaming over anything else.

Pegu revealed that in the coming months, Riot Games would be focussing on making Wild Rift a major focus in South Asia. The game might just turn out to be one of PUBG’s biggest rivals on the mobile platform.