Esports | CEO of Team Tamilas on impact of PUBG Mobile ban and future

The CEO of Esports outfit Team Tamilas, Gnana Shekar has built his gaming career after working for notable organisations like Flipkart and Nodwin Gaming while also managing his own digital marketing firm called GamePlay, which caters to the gaming industry in India.

Shekar lent his thought on the recent ban on PUBG Mobile via a quick telephonic interview. Gnana says that although the initial rumours of the ban existed, we did not expect the ban to go through thus implicating not only Team Tamilas but also the millions of gamers in India.

However, in the larger picture, the ban will affect the gamers in the country, budding content creators and streamers whose careers were built around PUBG Mobile. This ban also hampers the growth of gamers who have spent time and effort to go professional in this game rendering their efforts useless to a certain extent.

Team Tamilas

Gnana gives insight on alternate games taking precedence, titles like Garena Free Fire and Call of Duty Mobile, which are based on the same model as PUBG Mobile, will see a lot of players migrating to those titles. He expects these titles to take the mantle and push the esports ecosystem further. Gnana iterates that just like with the ban of TikTok in India and the rise of Indian apps, he expects the same to happen in the gaming industry with Indian developers coming up with their own iterations of games to replace PUBGM.

With the future of Team Tamilas and other esport organizations at stake, Gnana says obviously their organization were primarily based around PUBG Mobile, but with expansion into games like Valorant and Clash of Clans. He doesn't expect the growth of the ecosystem to be affected. Gnana also stands by his current PUBG Mobile roster emphasizing on the fact that Team Tamilas will not drop their team and will do their best to figure out different avenues and approaches to keep them involved in the industry. Team Tamilas has also seen their loyal fans stand behind them, seeing messages of support showcases that Team Tamilas have built loyalty along with their brand.

With gaming on the rise due to COVID, the number of games and people playing those games has increased. Casual games like Ludo King, Chess have seen growth which means naturally there is room for mobile game titles to thrive.

Lastly, to conclude, Gnana mentions that the ban of PUBG Mobile throws a wrench in the industries growth but it is nothing that it won’t recover from and he personally is excited to see how everyone adapts.