Gaming
India’s prominent gamers and music sensations set to light up College Rivals grand finale
Mumbai: The stage is set for an electrifying blend of Esports, lifestyle, and pop culture, as India’s top gamers prepare to join forces with acclaimed music sensations to headline the grand finale of College Rivals at Nesco, Mumbai on 3 March.
Renowned esports personalities such as Naman Mathur (Mortal), Payal Dhare (PayalGaming), Tanmay Singh (ScoutOP), Aniket Sood (Kinganbru), Prishita Nair(MintyGal), Paras Singh (ParasOfficial), Jimesh Parmar (Jimmy Gaming) and Neha Gupta (Naira Gaming) will be part of the grand finale of India’s largest Esports talent hunt where they will meet and greet with attendees.
They will be joined by notable music artists Seedhe Maut composed of Siddhant Sharma and Abhijay Negi, as well as Gaurav Pal aka Muhfaad, and Garv Taneja aka Char Diwari who will raise the roof with their live performances.
Speaking about the fusion of the LAN Finale with music, Ampverse, India country head Ashwin Haryani stated, “This convergence of India’s leading gamers and music sensations marks a significant stride towards innovation and reflects our commitment to reshaping the Esports landscape in the country. By providing fans with the opportunity to interact with their gaming idols and savor the musical performances of distinguished artists, we aspire to craft an immersive experience that resonates with not only gaming enthusiasts but with everyone attending the event.”
College Rivals, which is the inaugural intellectual property of Ampverse, Asia’s largest ecosystem of gaming communities and IPs, in collaboration with DMI Finance, is a pioneering initiative that has tapped into the immense talent pool within college campuses across the country.
The ultimate showdown of College Rivals will feature 28 finalists who have emerged from a competitive pool of 92,000 participants hailing from colleges across the country who will compete individually across six titles on three different platforms including BGMI, Road to Valor, Valorant, Tekken 7, and FIFA 23.
“I am thrilled to be a part of College Rivals’ grand finale, where the next generation of India’s Esports talent will emerge. This initiative serves as a pivotal stepping stone for aspiring gamers, offering them a comprehensive roadmap for a career in Esports—a path that was not as clearly defined when I began my journey in gaming. Through this platform, I hope to see gamers seize the opportunity and showcase their prowess on the big stage,” said Naman Mathur aka Mortal.
According to data from Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends Fall Pulse Survey, 42 per cent of GenZ gamers listened to music other than gaming ones while playing, 34 per cent heard music in a game and then looked it up online to stream or buy, 22 per cent of the sample size shared music recommendations while gaming with other online gamers, and 11 per cent had shown the trend of attending live music concerts inside a gaming world venue.
This deep connection between music and gaming will be brought to life by the one-of-a-kind experiential event which will also include arcade gaming zones, cosplay competition, racing simulators, food and beverage counters, chill lounges, and much more.
“As artists, we are constantly inspired by creativity and passion, something that exists in plenty within the Esports community. It is an exciting opportunity to perform at this event that is pushing the boundaries by merging the talents of music and gaming together. We eagerly await to witness the exciting gaming action between these aspiring gamers and wish them the best of luck,” commented Gaurav Pal aka Muhfaad.
This fusion of gaming and music promises an unforgettable experience for attendees, marking a significant moment in Indian Esports entertainment.
Fans can avail their tickets for the grand finale on BookMyShow.
For those who are unable to witness the action live, the grand finale will be streamed live on Youtube, Facebook Gaming, Twitch, Kick, Glance, JioGames, JioTV, Loco, and Rooter.
Gaming
India’s broadcasters say no to Fifa World Cup 2026
Fifa has slashed its asking price by 65 per cent but India’s broadcasters are still not buying
MUMBAI: The world’s biggest sporting event cannot find a single taker in the world’s most sports-mad nation. Fifa’s television rights for the 2026 World Cup remain unsold in India, and the clock is ticking loudly.
To shift the property, world football’s governing body has already swallowed hard and cut its asking price from $100m to $35m, bundling in the 2030 edition as a sweetener. It has not worked. Indian broadcasters have looked at the offer, done the sums and quietly walked away.
The reasons are brutally simple. The 2026 tournament, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, kicks off in a time zone that turns India’s primetime into a graveyard shift. Most matches will air between midnight and 7am IST, a scheduling catastrophe for advertisers chasing mass reach. The 2022 Qatar edition was a gift by comparison, with matches dropping neatly into Indian evenings. North America offers no such luxury.
The market itself has also changed beyond recognition. The merger of Star India and Viacom18 into JioStar has gutted the competitive tension that once sent sports rights prices soaring. Where rival bidders once slugged it out, there is now a single dominant buyer, and it is in no hurry. JioStar has valued the rights at roughly $25m, a full $10m below Fifa’s already-discounted floor price. That gap has so far proved unbridgeable.
Broadcasters are also nursing a ferocious cricket hangover. Between 2022 and 2023, Indian media houses committed well over $10bn to cricket rights alone, covering IPL, ICC events and BCCI domestic fixtures combined. After a binge of that scale, appetite for a football package that delivers a fraction of the ratings, in the dead of night, is close to zero.
The economics of football broadcasting make the maths even harder. Cricket, with its natural breaks every few overs, is an advertiser’s paradise. Football offers a 15-minute halftime and precious little else. Recovering a nine-figure rights fee from a single half-hour ad window is a stretch at the best of times. These are not the best of times: the Indian government’s tightening grip on real-money gaming and gambling advertising has vaporised a category that once underwrote the economics of big sporting events.
Nor is the World Cup an anomaly. Indian Super League valuations have cratered. English Premier League rights have softened across successive cycles. The cooling of football as a broadcast commodity in India is structural, not cyclical.
With the tournament opening on 11th June, Fifa is running out of road. It may yet blink and meet JioStar at $25m. Or it may go direct, streaming the entire tournament on its own platform, Fifa+, or cutting a digital deal with YouTube, and hoping that a generation of Indian football fans finds its way there without a broadcaster to guide them.
Either way, the beautiful game’s Indian chapter is looking decidedly ugly.
