GodLike’s player roster include ‘Jonathan’ Amaral, Abhijeet ‘Ghatak’ Andhare, Abhishek ‘ZGOD’ Choudhary, Vivek ‘ClutchGod’ Horo, Suraj ‘Neyoo’ Majumdar, and Ashpreet ‘Gill’ Singh who will now exclusively live stream on Rooter (Representative Image)
Game streaming and e-sports platform Rooter on May 25 announced that it has signed prominent Indian e-sports team GodLike as part of the company’s Rs 100 crore investment in the country’s e-sports industry.
GodLike is moving to Rooter after a rather short stint at Krafton-backed rival Loco that had signed them up in January 2022.
The partnership deal will provide Rooter with exclusive live streaming rights for GodLike’s roster of professional gamers in titles such as Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Free Fire, and Call of Duty Mobile (CODM), along with new forms of live gaming content, the company said.
GodLike’s player roster include ‘Jonathan’ Amaral, Abhijeet ‘Ghatak’ Andhare, Abhishek ‘ZGOD’ Choudhary, Vivek ‘ClutchGod’ Horo, Suraj ‘Neyoo’ Majumdar, and Ashpreet ‘Gill’ Singh who will now exclusively live stream on Rooter. The startup said it will also serve as a sponsor for GodLike’s players in all the upcoming tournaments and events.
“GodLike is one of the most popular teams in the Indian e-sports ecosystem and we foresee building a long-term relationship with them. Having their roster of professional gamers as part of our massive community will give the fans tonnes of exclusive content and a chance to interact with their favourite streamers” said Rooter co-founder Dipesh Agarwal.
Agarwal claimed that this is the biggest deal ever signed in India’s e-sports ecosystem, without disclosing any specific details. “By joining forces with GodLike, we look forward to building an enormous and competitive community of streamers and influencers on our platform” he said.
Started in 2016 by Agarwal and Piyush Kumar, Rooter raised $ 25 million in its series A funding round led by Lightbox, March Gaming, and Duane Park Ventures.
In March 2022, the New Delhi-based startup picked up the exclusive media rights for all intellectual properties (IPs) of e-sports tournament organiser Skyesports for next one year, in what was termed as one of the largest media rights deals in e-sports.
It also has partnership deals with e-sports teams such as Team Orange Rock (OREsports), Orangutan and Revenge Esports.
The platform claims to currently have 11.5 million monthly active users with more than 40 million downloads. It also claims to have one million content creators and more than 15,000 Facecam streamers creating gaming content on the platform. Facecam streamers are those that create gameplay videos with their faces captured at the corner of the screen.
“We are thrilled to partner with the country’s most popular game streaming platform. The speed of innovation and the incredible gaming experience Rooter offers reaffirms its commitment to scale e-sports in India” said Amar Sanjay Chandgude, Director, Godlike esports.
Rival Loco also raised $ 42 million led by South Korea-based crypto venture capital firm Hashed and participation from NR Narayana Murthy-led Catamaran Ventures, Makers Fund, and Korea Investment Partners in March 2022.
Though at a nascent stage, the e-sports market size in India has quickly scaled to Rs 300 crore in FY21 and it is expected to reach Rs 1,100 crore by FY25, according to a recent EY report.
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