International Women's Day 2023: Prominent Female Personalities from Indian Esports Industry extend wishes on the special occasion

International Women’s Day 2023: Prominent Female Personalities from Indian Esports Industry extend wishes on the special occasion – Gender inequality and discrimination have been an area of concerns in our society. To fight against these obstacles, the World Celebrates the International Women’s Day on March 8. With the Indian gaming industry growing exponentially, popular female influencers including Richa Singh, Payal Gaming aka Payal Dhare, from Indian ESports community has also extended their wish on this auspicious occasion to spread equality in all forms.

Richa Singh, Co-founder & CEO, FanClash

Through the unwavering success of FanClash, Richa Singh has debunked the widespread stereotypical notions and proved that women can lead in the business of gaming and become among the key industry players. With a wealth of corporate finance experience from her previous roles, Richa is building FanClash to elevate the Indian startup ecosystem by creating a global product from India for the world.

International Women's Day 2023: Prominent Female Personalities from Indian Esports Industry extend wishes on the special occasion — International Women’s Day 2023: Richa Singh

“For years, I was an avid gamer, which ultimately motivated me to establish a business in fantasy esports, and it was not a cakewalk. Especially for a woman when most stakeholders are men, right from investors to consumers. In recent years, there has been a huge shift in the gaming industry, with a remarkable stride towards gender equality as women showed their ability to compete with male gamers on an equal footing.

They took part in game development, designing, and marketing. Women gamers gained popularity as they empowered themselves, and it’s been an enlightening journey for me as I co-own FanClash, Asia’s largest fantasy Esports platform, and help to break stereotypes.

Women are an active part of the gaming community, working to bridge the gap between themselves and their male counterparts. The priority should be crafting safe spaces for leadership identity where women should be able to focus on the job, not overthink regarding invisible barriers, and to create jobs for those women who are passionate about gaming and want to make a career out of it, from game designers and developers to content creators and influencers.

Women can also look into roles such as esports commentator or analyst, game tester, or game artist. We need to use more outreach methods to attract more women to this space, as well as provide ample support for retaining and developing the ecosystem’s existing female talent.

We have ace women gamers who have demonstrated their talent. Players like Shagufta “Xyaa” Iqbal, Monika “Sherlock” Jeph, and Saloni Panwar (Meow16k) are some of the top Indian female gamers. From competitive tournaments to streaming platforms, women are taking up the mantle of game-making and game-playing with new avenues for representation and storytelling in the gaming world. We anticipate a climax with shattered gender stereotypes associated with gaming if this trend continues.”

Payal Dhare a.k.a Payal Gaming
“The gaming industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and it’s great to see that it is becoming more diverse and inclusive. Women bring unique perspectives, ideas and creativity to the industry which helps to drive innovation and progress. Moreover, women’s contribution to the gaming industry has been proven to be instrumental in bringing in a new audience and increasing revenue. Video Game designers, programmers, animators, video game testers, game writers, audio engineers, are some of the viable career options one can opt for. Women who are interested in gaming can also opt for careers in education and research, where they can use their skills and knowledge to educate and inspire the next generation of female gamers.

International Women's Day 2023: Payal Gaming — International Women’s Day 2023: Payal Gaming

Overall, it’s exciting to see that the gaming industry is embracing diversity and inclusivity, and I hope that it will continue to do so in the future.”

Krutika Ojha a.k.a Krutika Plays

“Embracing diversity and inclusion in the gaming industry is a goal that we are constantly striving towards. The gaming industry can tap into a wider pool of talent, ideas, and perspectives, and create games that appeal to a more diverse audience. This not only helps to drive the growth of the industry, but it also helps to break down barriers and stereotypes associated with gaming.

International Women's Day 2023: Krutika — International Women’s Day 2023: Krutika

It’s great to see that technology is also playing a great role in making the gaming industry more accessible and inclusive. The rise of mobile gaming and cloud gaming has made it possible for people from all walks of life to enjoy gaming, regardless of their location, age, or gender. This has also made it easier for people to pursue careers in the gaming industry, as they no longer need access to expensive hardware or a dedicated gaming setup.

Investments are pouring in and global sports bodies like the Olympics and CWG reviewing their mandates on possibilities to include esports in their framework makes it more evident. The push for greater diversity and inclusion in the gaming industry is not only important for women, but for the industry as a whole.”

Kaashvi Hiranandani a.k.a Kaash Plays

“At 25, I started streaming video games on YouTube even while working as a finance consultant in Singapore, but now I am a full-time streamer. It was a tough choice for sure, especially being a woman getting into a male-dominated industry, but I followed my passion and have never regretted it.

When I started, there were hardly any women players but glad that things have changed in a really short span of time. It’s encouraging to see that perceptions are changing and that women are becoming more confident in taking risks and pursuing their passions. There is so much scope for youngsters to get into the business of esports gaming like as a Video Gamer writer who pens down the stories and dialogues, a Video Game Producer who manages the development of video games from concept to completion, and with Virtual Reality exciting us that is another space anyone can explore and benefit out of it.

I hope that the trend of increased representation of women in the gaming industry continues and that more and more women will be encouraged to pursue careers in the industry.”

Saloni Singh a.k.a Play Like Incognito

“It would be a pretty decent statement to make that India has seen a tremendous amount of women in gaming, starting from playing the game professionally to managing teams, working in the gaming production unit to owning and running an esports organization. I have seen organizations recruit professional women only teams in 2022.”

“Currently a lot of investors have put their money in games like BGMI, Pokémon Unite, PUBG New State and Valorant. We see tournaments happening very frequently with a whopping 7 digit prize pool! This means there is a great future and that young women who are esports athletes, can safely invest their time. Not just playing professionally, a lot of other professions have opened doors in the IT sector for gaming as well.”

“It’s time that we normalize women in gaming sector, since we have seen so many female gamers step up in the past few years. India has come a long way in seeing women in all walks of life, be it IT or Medicine.”

So, these are some reactions from the eSports community.

Esports & Gaming