Gaming
Riot Games unveils Valorant’s latest mural art, billboards for India’s gaming community
Mumbai: Riot Games has unveiled its new mural art and billboards to celebrate Valorant’s launch of its first desi agent with the Indian gaming community. Encouraging the Indian gaming community to join in on its celebration, the wall mural and billboards have been spread across prime locations in India, showcasing Riot’s commitment to the growing gaming culture in India.
Furthering its commitment to the Indian market, synergising with local fans and building hyperlocal experiences to attract and inspire players across the country, Riot Games recently launched its first-ever desi agent Harbor in Valorant. With a bright wall painting stretched across the road capturing Harbor’s discovery of an ancient artefact, high-speed chases across streets, and more, the mural covers an area of 8400 sq ft at Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg Road, Colaba, South Mumbai.
This mural, which reflects Harbor’s water-bending powers and roguishly charming personality, is colourful, vibrant, and will surely resonate with Indian fans. Similarly, featuring a total of 17 billboards spotlighting the names of creators and organisations at the heart of the Valorant community, the initiative aims to celebrate their contributions and the success of Valorant thus far. These billboards can be spotted at prime locations across the country, including cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi NCR & Baroda.
This launch also comes at an opportune time, when online gaming has been growing exponentially in India. With the recent announcement of e-sports being recognised as an official multi-sports event in India, the country is home to a vibrant gaming ecosystem, which further opens doors for bigger opportunities to engage and attract Indian audiences in the future.
Riot Games marketing lead India and South Asia Ashish Gupta said, “We are thrilled to unveil this artwork as we celebrate the Indian community’s growing passion for gaming. Given the growing popularity of Valorant’s newest and first Indian agent, Agent Harbor, we look forward to bringing more hyperlocal experiences that resonate with the country’s diverse and dynamic community in 2023. With expressive murals and billboards that form an integral part of this initiative, we wish to express our gratitude to the Indian gaming community, especially the creators and teams who are behind the success of Valorant in India. We are very optimistic about the growth of the country’s gaming community and look forward to innovating more inclusive, dynamic, and immersive products and experiences for our audiences in India and across the globe.”
As part of the celebration, Riot Games has published a video With Love, from Valorant featuring the creators and e-sports organisations and their billboards.
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.
