Decline of Female Esports across India and rise of Female Streamers

While Esports is regarded as the next big thing in India, the term Female Esports always comes with a question mark. This raises further questions as to why at a time when everyone is pushing towards the esports industry, female-only events are hardly given any focus in India.

As of now, top esports organizations have already parted ways with their female esports rosters in India after experimenting for some time. This is mainly due to female-exclusive tournaments featuring much lower prize pools compared to regular ones. Paired with multiple high-level competitors, having a profitable structure can be tough.

The regular tournaments do not have any form of gender restriction, however, the finals or even group stages always see male rosters. This is usually due to the skill gap, as male rosters usually get more support to spend more time practising and perfecting their game. Paired with other factors, female rosters, even if they start with open qualifiers, usually fail to make it to the end.

Also Read: Why are women underrepresented in esports?

Rise of female streamers

At the same time, a few others quickly caught on to the current situation and further made their name into video game content creation. Someone playing a popular game on a regular basis will attract more fans than a player practising in obscurity and only making an appearance in tournaments.

With big names like Orangutan, and Global Esports dropping support for female rosters, small organisations cannot even think of increasing their financial burden. However, streaming required much less effort and was very doable due to affordable internet and mobile devices.

The same orgs who are not ready to invest in Female Esports yet were lining up to sign female content creators that displayed even a hit of success. Streamers like Payal Gaming, Kaash Plays, Meow16k, Xyaa and many others have found success streaming.

Even the CEO of Global Esports acknowledged this, saying, “I have recently seen female esports athletes choosing content creation as a lucrative opportunity. Esports requires a lot of effort, but in content creation, the chances of success are higher compared to esports in India.”

While it is sad that the Female Esports have not made it that far yet, we do need to remember that the Esports industry in India is still growing. There are multiple top-tier events across the country, but players have yet to make it internationally. Hopefully, by that time, the Female Esports sector would have made it in the mix.