An Interview with NVIDIA

After Nvidia kicked off its very first GeForce Lan event last month, we sat down with Vishal Dhupar, managing director for Nvidia, South Asia and spoke to him at length about gaming in India, graphic cards, the PC vs. Console debate and lots more.

How does NVIDIA intend to promote gaming in India? What other tournaments is NVIDIA a part of?

Our products and technologies have seen a tremendous pick-up in India and we are convinced that India has a latent potential for gaming to really take-off. In order to cultivate gaming here and engage with enthusiasts we have initiated various platforms.
In the summer of 2011, NVIDIA kicked off the NVIDIA Gaming League. This tournament had gaming afficionados battling it out against each other in 25 gaming cafes across India including the cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Indore, Rajkot, Jaipur and Chandigarh. The winner at each of the cafes in these cities including participated in the Grand Finale that was organised at BYOC in June and stood a chance to win Rs. 1 Lakh worth prizes from NVIDIA!

Getting their game on at NVIDIA's GeForce lan

And, this winter, NVIDIA is back with a bang! For the first time ever, NVIDIA has expanded the GeForce LAN gaming tournament beyond US shores. India was the obvious choice because of the explosion in gaming’s popularity and the market’s preference for PC gaming. We received an overwhelming response. More than 600 gamers from not only India but also Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore battled it out to be the ultimate gamer. Another interesting trend that we saw is the enthusiasm growing amongst female gamers. In fact, 10 percent of all registered participants were girls. The response we received for the maiden edition of GeForce LAN is overwhelmingly positive and we will continue to look for opportunities to engage with gaming fans.

Do you think people can make money through competitive gaming in India the way they do in the West?

Gaming has begun to be seen as a sport in its own right –an ‘e-sport’ if you will. Like athletes, professional gamers rely not only on their skill in winning tournaments but also on sponsorship to make a living. Even in the West, gaming tournaments with big cash prizes are not too numerous and most professional gamers supplement this income with sponsorship deals and public appearances. Being a professional gamer is not just a case of having outstanding gaming skills – hopefuls need to market themselves to potential sponsors. It’s just a matter of time before charismatic gamers in India succeed in doing this and we begin seeing sponsored teams and individuals making their mark on local and international tournaments.

SRK unveiling the Ra.One themed card at the GeForce lan

What tournament/event plans does NVIDIA have for the future? 

NVIDIA proactively innovates and ideates events and tournaments for gamers across the globe. The NVIDIA Gaming League in India and GeForce StarCraft II Pro/Am online tournament were two such events which NVIDIA organized earlier this year. And, we have now extended the GeForce LAN format to India for the first time in 6 years, since it was launched in the US. We had a fabulous response from gamers across India and even from other regions in Asia.

We continuously look forward to engaging with gamers and providing them with great hardware and software support. We intend to make gaming leagues and events an annual affair for constantly liaising with gamers across the globe for the development of the gaming community.