Today, on 29th July, there was some exciting news for gaming and esports in India. The Government of Uttar Pradesh signed an agreement (called Memorandum of Understanding or MoU) with Garena, a gaming company from Singapore. The main goal of this partnership is to help the growth of esports in Uttar Pradesh.
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To achieve this, the state government will organize international esports events and tournaments. Another company called Yotta, which is part of India’s Hiranandani Group, is also involved in this partnership. Yotta will provide local support and services like data centers and cloud hosting to make sure the esports development plan is successful.
In March this year, the Government of Uttar Pradesh decided to promote esports as part of its sports policy. They wanted to create an environment that supports esports in the state and all of India.
Their plan included several important goals:
1. Study the esports scene in India and other countries to find talented players and help them develop their skills.
2. Work with private companies to set up an esports center in Uttar Pradesh.
3. Provide esports players with facilities similar to those given to athletes in traditional sports.
4. Create a system of rewards and incentives for esports athletes.
5. Host national and international esports events in Uttar Pradesh.
6. Improve the infrastructure for esports players in every district.
7. Include esports in various government schemes to benefit players.
8. Introduce esports in schools and colleges to encourage more people to participate.
9. Encourage parents to see esports as an opportunity, not just a bad habit.
Now, after four months, the UP Government has teamed up with Garena and Yotta to promote and develop esports, taking a step forward in achieving their goals.
Garena will focus on organizing international esports events in Uttar Pradesh, which will be a great platform for Indian players to show their talent to the world.
Yotta, a company that provides data services like cloud storage and cybersecurity, will support Garena in making this vision a reality.
Two agreements were signed at the KD Singh Babu Stadium in Lucknow: one between the UP Government and Garena, and the other between Garena and Yotta.
The event had important people like Girish Chandra Yadav – UP Minister for Sports, Navneet Sehgal – Additional Chief Secretary for Sports, Sunil Gupta – CEO and Co-Founder of Yotta, and Gang Ye – CEO and Co-Founder of Sea Ltd.
The government chose to work with Yotta because it has a highly secure and large data center in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. This data center is approved by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and ensures that all data, including sensitive information, is safe and under the control of Indian authorities.
In the past, the Indian government faced issues with certain mobile games like PUBG Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which were banned temporarily or permanently due to concerns about user data and privacy.
Interestingly, Garena’s game, Free Fire, was banned in India on 14th February 2022, but its upgraded version, Free Fire MAX, continued to work without any problems and was not banned.
