ESPORTS
The Onset Of Esports Player Protection in India With a tagline of ‘Guard the Gamers,’ the Esports Welfare Association (EPWA) is a first of its kind non-profit organisation founded solely to protect the interests of esports players. Ritesh Nath, Founder and CEO of EPWA, sheds light on this newly launched organisation.
By Amarylisa Gonsalves
T
he esports scene in India has been growing manifold over the past few years. While the industry is witnessing greater heights, it is also becoming a lucrative arena for business operations. Investments, takeovers, acquisitions, new organisations, partnerships, sponsorships, player contracts are now part and parcel of this budding industry. With more significant business opportunities come greater risks and vulnerabilities to the stakeholders of the industry. One such group of stakeholders that stand at greater vulnerabilities are the esports players. Esports players can safely be called the soul of the industry. However,
the young players are often exposed to unfair practices for several reasons, lack of awareness and the unregulated nature of the industry. The need for a standalone body that could protect the players’ interests was indeed the need of the hour. That’s precisely why EPWA stepped in. The recently launched Esports Players Welfare Association (EPWA), is a non-profit organisation whose sole objective lies in protecting and sustaining the rights of esports players in the country. The organisation provides services like career advice, creation of community, contracts, legal advice, and dispute resolution to the country’s
young talent. We connected with Ritesh Nath, Founder and CEO of EPWA, to understand more about the organisation. Here’s what Nath had to share about the novel organisation and its objectives. What was the idea behind starting EPWA? The idea behind starting EPWA was solely to protect and safeguard every player in the esports arena, whether amateur or seasoned. Every industry has unions or communities/ associations that very well put the interests and safeguard of their respective members at the forefront. On the other hand, the esports industry of India and its players who are exposed to all kinds of nuisance from time to
G UTS H OT
SEPTEMBER
2021
37
