Author: Imran Fazal

Indian esports ecosystem slows down. Who is to blame?

India's gaming industry is second-largest after China with the community comprising 500 million gamers

In India, the esports ecosystem revolves around two major game titles, Krafton’s Battleground Mobile India (BGMI) and Riot Games’ first-person shooter (FPS) game Valorant. Valve’s Counter-Strike 2 has yet to make a significant impact.

Indian gaming consortium writes to PMO, I&B Ministry seeking tax relief and clear classification

The representation letter to the Prime Minister’s Office and to the office of the Minister of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) was signed by 70 companies from the Indian video games and esports industry.

The consortium has made 10 suggestions to the newly formed government which includes reducing the GST on video games to a 12% bracket to promote sustainability and better cash flow for game companies, exempt import/customs duties, IGST, and any cess for proprietary hardware development kits used for testing and developing video games.

Epic Games CEO to fight against Apple’s app store policies

The new Digital Markets Act in Europe allowed Epic to launch its own Epic Games Store on iOS and to bring Fortnite back to the platform with reduced commissions to Apple.

Epic has been fighting Apple for years over the company’s revenue-sharing requirements in the App Store. While Epic’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple was defeated last year, many of its criticisms were echoed in a different lawsuit filed against Apple in March by the Department of Justice and 17 state attorneys general.