Gaming
Inox and ESFI join hands to bring esports to the big screen
Mumbai: Inox Leisure and Esports Federation of India (ESFI) on Monday announced their partnership that will witness Inox providing a community viewing experience of esports tournaments on the big screen.
As an exclusive cinema partner, Inox will host and promote ESFI tournaments across the country. “This will help in building awareness and popularising esports besides offering world-class cinemas as esports and video gaming venues in cities all over India,” said the statement.
Inox has supported Indian sports through various collaborations, including its longstanding partnership with the Indian Olympic Association. Inox and ESFI together aim to take esports to the masses using Inox cinemas as venues for hosting esports tournaments, streaming of live tournaments, providing training opportunities, and offering a talent scouting platform for future global events.
“We are thrilled to bring the action of esports to the cinemas of Inox in collaboration with Esports Federation of India who has been working relentlessly to grow Indian esports and together, make esports, a mainstream sporting activity in India,” said Inox Leisure’s chief executive officer Alok Tandon. “With this association, we will build more esports IPs and who knows with our initiatives we can unearth a Neeraj Chopra or Abhinav Bindra in esports for our country.”
“The exclusive partnership comes at a very right time when Asian Games is scheduled in the month of September and ESFI will soon launch ‘AESF’s Road to Asian Games’ to select the national esports contingent of our country. This partnership will see both ESFI and Inox together nurturing and developing the Indian esports talent pool wherein ESFI will bring more partners to further strengthen this objective and create a robust and thriving esports ecosystem,” said ESFI president and Olympic Council of Asia – NOC and international relations director Vinod Tiwari.
As per the E&Y report, India currently has more than 1,50,000 professional esports players that have generated a viewership of 17 million people across 14 broadcast platforms, and the forecast is to have 1.5 million professional players with 85 million viewership from 20+ broadcasters by FY2025.
The association will enable Inox to engage and offer an enticing content proposition to the age bracket of 15-24 years by promoting this new age sport that has the potential to garner a huge fan base and is expected to reach Rs 11 billion by FY2025 as per industry data.
Through this partnership, Inox and ESFI will be jointly hosting city tournaments and building various esports IPs in order to intensify its growth, not just at the elite, but also at the grassroots level. The objective will be to introduce the charm of gamers and gaming enthusiasts, across the country, to take part in online as well as in-cinema tournaments, said the statement.
Gaming
Nodwin Gaming partners with Runestone for esports data and integrity solutions
South Asian esports leader joins forces with Czech tech firm to enhance tournament operations.
MUMBAI: Nodwin Gaming has just levelled up its game by bringing in a specialist to keep the scoreboard honest and the fans fully engaged. The leading South Asian esports and gaming company has announced a strategic partnership with Runestone, a Prague-headquartered esports technology firm specialising in real-time data and engagement solutions for tournament organisers and publishers.
The collaboration aims to strengthen competitive integrity, improve operational oversight, and deliver more interactive viewing experiences across Nodwin’s properties. It will initially focus on the Nodwin Clutch Series for Counter-Strike 2, a Tier 2 tournament that provides emerging teams with consistent competitive opportunities and helps build the talent pipeline.
The latest edition of the series recently concluded with Big defeating ECSTATIC 2–1 in the grand final of the $50,000 online event.
Nodwin Gaming chief business officer at MENA and global head of data monetization Teemu Koski said, “Integrity and transparency are fundamental to sustainable esports ecosystems, especially in Tier 2 competition where the next generation of talent emerges. Runestone’s expertise complements our experience in building scalable esports IPs.”
Runestone head of partnerships Michael Schwartz added, “Nodwin Gaming has built one of the most dynamic esports ecosystems across emerging markets. We’re thrilled to collaborate on supporting tournaments with greater transparency, deeper fan interaction, and scalable tools.”
Both companies are exploring opportunities to extend the partnership across additional titles, including mobile-first competitive ecosystems, and to develop new products for publishers, tournament operators, and event promoters.
In the rapidly growing world of esports, where fair play and fan excitement are equally crucial, Nodwin Gaming and Runestone are teaming up to ensure every match is not only competitive but also transparent and engaging. This alliance could well become a game-changer for Tier 2 tournaments across South Asia and beyond.
