Rushindra Sinha Explains How Securing a Franchise Slot Gave a Boost to Global Esports

Rushindra Sinha, founder and CEO of Global Esports, recently spoke about the impact of securing a franchise slot in the Valorant league on the organization. Sinha stated that the organization went through multiple rounds of evaluations, and Riot Games’ rigorous documentation process and its checklist provided for the qualification in the franchise league boosted Global Esports. He detailed how Riot Games' League of Legends franchising provided insights into the operations and hurdles faced by esports organizations. He also discussed the current status of the esports industry in India and emphasized the significance of establishing a strong base for future expansion.

Sinha praises Riot Games for its franchise organization selection process 

In a recent livestream, Sinha responded to S8UL Esports' manager's tweet where he discussed what Indian orgs should focus on growing the Indian esports scene or make their companies successful.

According to Sinha, Riot furnished the teams that assisted them in outlining various aspects of their organizations. He emphasized that he feels this checklist should be mandatory for all organizations. “Sometime in my life, I don’t know if I get Riot’s permission, but I would like to share with you all the checklists Riot had for us. I feel that this checklist should be mandatory for every single organization in the world regardless of what roster they have, regardless of which game, regardless of whether it’s mobile PC or console, it doesn’t matter. That checklist that Riot provided to us is absolutely insane, like that checklist has helped us formulate so many things,” he said.

Sinha mentioned that their application process went through four rounds of evaluations, including a final round - partnership agreement. He emphasized that the process of acquiring a franchise slot and the rigorous requirements set by Riot helped to “structuralize” Global Esports, resulting in significant growth. “I’m not exaggerating, (the checklist accelerated Global Esports) at least two to three years in the future. Everything that we would have been able to achieve organically, slowly, and by ourselves would have probably taken two or three years. Because of Riot’s documentation, checklist, and requirements, we are today where we probably would have been in three years. Only because they help structuralize,” he added.

According to Sinha, Riot’s extensive experience running the League of Legends tournament (franchise league) for ten years has given it a deep understanding of the various challenges faced by esports organizations. “Riot has seen so many Esports rosters change across the world in various sports, but the issue then comes that a lot of these teams think that they know best, but what Riot does is they have a third person perspective and a bird’s eye view of every org,” he said.

Sinha explained that Riot’s rigorous documentation process, which includes a financial audit, has been instrumental in the success of Global Esports. He noted that the financial audit conducted by Riot was intense, but he is grateful for it as it helped the organization get to where it is today. “They know what’s happening inside out because through this documentation, first with League of Legends, everything is open to that now with Valorant, like Riot went so far to ask every single receipt and every single billable that we have ever created. Their financial audit was very intense, and I’m glad because it helped us get to where we are,” he said.

Sinha believes Indian esports organizations lack a solid foundation

Sinha spoke about the state of the esports industry in India and the importance of building a solid foundation for growth. According to him, many esports organizations in India are not properly registered and operate as proprietary companies, lacking the necessary legal structure and documentation. “That’s not how you build a scalable company; that’s not how you build the next Epic Games, the next Riot Games, the next Uber, the next Apple, the next Google. That’s not how you do it,” he added.

“You have to be thinking on that level and thinking that you want to reach that stage, then you start putting your processes in place, your admin, your finance, your legal, all the back end work has to be done first, then the front-end work. Most people used to do the front-end work first; then they struggled to catch up on the back-end work. That’s not how it works,” he added.

Global Esports is one of  oldest and most successful Indian esports organizations. The team has been dominating the South Asian Valorant team for a long time and is the only team to represent the region in Valorant franchise league. The team will be a part of the upcoming inaugural tournament of Valorant Champions Tour 2023 (VCT 2023), which is set to start on 13tg February.