In the first match to kick off Convergence, the International E-sports Valorant Tournament local team ‘True Rippers’ lost against Korean team Gen. G
Hot off the heels of their first victory against rival team Reckoning E-Sports, Bengaluru based e-sports team True Rippers were all set to compete against formidable Korean team Gen. G in ‘Convergence’, Bengaluru’s first Internationational E-sports tournament. They lost 13-6.
Gen. G, a Korean E-sports team was named the sixth most valuable e-sports organization by Forbes in 2020, valued at a sum of approximately 185 million USD.
True Rippers faced off against them in a best of three tournaments for the video game named Valorant. Riot Games, the developer and publisher of Valorant, has partnered with the e-sports marketing organisation, The ESports Club to host the tournament from Dec. 14, 2023 to Dec.17, 2023.
There was an air of jubilation mixed with a lingering sense of anticipation as the Indian team made their entrance into the gates of Manpho Convention Centre in Bangalore.
Followed by a drum procession and loud chants of ‘India’, the team owners and managers walked in holding the Indian flag.
“I don’t think I can describe how I feel right now,” said Yash, the owner of the team.
“After coming in at number 2 in so many matches, it really was a moment of euphoria for me when we finally won the qualifiers,” he said, referring to their victory over the Indian team Reckoning E-Sports in the qualifier round for the Convergence tournament.
Fans on the other hand, had a more mixed opinion about their confidence in True Rippers’s performance, with many forecasting a loss for the team.
“There’s a visible gap between their aiming skills and their ability to strategize,” said Krishang, a fan who has been playing since the game was open to the public in its beta version in 2020. “They have a particular play style they stick to but they don’t innovate and that is a major disadvantage. I am not confident about the chances of True Rippers winning,” Krishang said.
Improper teamwork seems to be another problem as fans say that the team is well noted for playing aggressively but are not as good at coordinating with each other.
“The players play nice, but they are not able to cooperate well together,” said Mayank, who is an ardent fan of the game and harbors ambitions to compete professionally in E-sports tournaments.
The Indian team’s aggressive play style coupled with relative inexperience explains why fans did not have much confidence in their ability to win.
“We don’t expect them to win, we just want them to give us a good match to watch.” said Sujal, a Chennai college student who travelled to Bangalore to watch the event.
“E- sports is still an emerging phenomenon in India,” said Urvesh, who has been following multiplayer shooters since childhood.
“We don’t have the support and the resources that players from other countries get,” he said.
But fans like Mayank do have faith in the growing importance of e-sports.
“Valorant tournament live streams used to have 400 to 500 Indian viewers but the number has gone up to more than 25 thousand viewers in a brief period of three years,” he said.
