India Today Group in a first-of-its-kind partnership with Garena, a leading games developer and publisher launched the Biggest Free Fire Gaming League in India – Free Fire India Today League’. Amidst much fervour, the e-gaming event was inaugurated by Hon’ble Union Sports Minister Shri Kiren Rijiju.
Team ‘Nawabzade’ emerged as the ‘India Grand Master’ (Winner) of ‘Free Fire India Today League’ held at Siri Fort Auditorium today. 12 teams which qualified for the Grand finale of ‘FFITL’ fought for the title ‘India Grand Master’. The 12 Grand Finale teams were selected after a gruelling online qualifier among a record registration from over 30,868 teams comprising of 121,546 individual gamers across India. The winning prize pool for the ‘#FreefireITL’ prize pool was INR 3.5 Million for the ultimate survivors. The winning team will represent India Free Fire’s World Tournament Finale in Brazil and stands a chance to win USD 300,000.
Addressing a electrified gathering of gaming enthusiasts and finalists at the Siri Fort Auditorium, Union Minister for Sport, Shri Kiren Rijiju commented “I am happy to launch Free Fire Gaming in India which will attain a distinct size in few months. It will also give our youth an opportunity to create a name for ourselves in the gaming arena and earn money. We will do everything to make India a greatest sporting powerhouse in the world. Sports should be a way of life as it defines country’s health and image. Nothing matches a sporting event like Olympics. If you want to be a superpower then you have to be in top 10 nations in Olympics.”
Speaking at the event, Ms. Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson, India Today Group, “Launching a new initiative is such a wonderful feeling. But I had not expected the energy, excitement and the speed with which the game moved. It was awesome. The complexity was mind-boggling, and the casters were very good in directing novice and experts alike. We will definitely be doing many more.”
Free Fire is one of the most popular mobile battle royale game globally. It is the third most downloaded mobile game and the most downloaded battle royale game globally across the Google Play and iOS App Stores combined in Q2 2019, according to App Annie. As of May 2019, Free Fire achieved more than 450 Million registered users and more than 50 Million peak daily active users from over 130 markets worldwide.
Garena’s Free Fire made headlines in the start of 2019, with its first ever World Cup held in Bangkok, with a prize pool of USD 100,000, recording concurrent online viewership of over 1 Million gamers and total viewership of over 18 Million globally.
