The eSports World Cup with a total prize money of $75 million (about 11 billion Nepali rupees) is underway in Paris, France, with an estimated revenue of $75 million (about 11 billion Nepali rupees) this year. The World Cup, which was scheduled to be held in Riyadh due to rising tensions in West Asia and the ongoing war in Iran, has now been moved to Paris. The Real Soldiers (DRS) Gaming in the Free Fire category and Hora ESports in PUBG Mobile have been selected from Nepal.

The eSports World Cup began in Paris last week amid the excitement of the ongoing Football World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico. More than 200 clubs and more than 2,000 players from more than 100 countries are currently participating in the third edition of the competition. The seven-week competition will feature 24 games in 25 categories. This is the largest prize money competition in the history of world eSports.

DRS, which qualified for the World Cup by passing the regional qualifying competition in the Free Fire category, has become the first Nepali team to compete in the eSports World Cup. DRS has started competing with established teams from around the world in the Free Fire competition, which has a total of 24 teams participating, this week. In the first few stages, it has managed to reach the top 10. Currently, DRS is in seventh place.

According to Vishal Sapkota, who is knowledgeable about the Free Fire game in Nepal, Nepali players are performing very confidently in Paris. ‘They are not nervous even against the world’s famous teams that they have considered their idols, and are performing excellently,’ said Vishal. ‘Since this is the first time they have reached this level of global stage, our goal is to reach the final and finish on the podium (becoming among the top three). We are currently in seventh place and are hopeful of securing our place for the Survival Stage.’

Nepal’s Hora Esports and Pakistan’s Forthrives Esports have been selected from South Asia in PUBG Mobile. The Hora team is preparing to leave for Paris on August 3. The team includes Subash Rana ‘No Fear’, Akash Sotang Rai ‘Sky’, Sheetal Rai ‘Sleepy’, Supreme Adhikari ‘Jiggle’, Pravesh Gurung ‘Hat Dami’ and Ujen Lama ‘Ninja Hora’. The team is being coached by Dinesh Roka Magar. Hora Sports won a prize of 127,500 US dollars (about 17.8 million rupees) by finishing ninth in the competition held in Saudi Arabia last year.

According to CR Seven Hora (Sanjan Gautam), founder and operator of Hora Sports, it is a lot of hard work to be selected from the South Asian qualifiers and reach the World Cup. ‘This time we have decided to win as much as possible, and even if we don’t win, we will finish on the podium,’ he said. ‘Our team is practicing with the best teams in the world every day, so we are not afraid. The government deducts 25 percent tax on the prizes we win in international games, but has done nothing to develop the game so far.’

The World Cup organized by the eSports Foundation will run until August 23. Football star Cristiano Ronaldo and chess legend Magnus Carlsen are the global ambassadors of the tournament. The foundation’s CEO, Ralph Reichert, said that this edition, held in Paris, marks the beginning of a new chapter in expanding the eSports World Cup beyond Saudi Arabia. This year, the tournament includes popular games such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Valorant, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, PUBG Mobile, Free Fire and chess.

Some competitions have already been completed, and the world’s most famous eSports clubs seem to have taken an early lead in the club championship points table. The global eSports industry is expected to generate over $2 billion in revenue this year. The tournament will showcase the growing commercial expansion of competitive online gaming, the BBC reported.

Him Bikram KC, Senior Vice President of Esports Association Nepal (Ishan), has taken the Nepali teams' entry into the World Cup as a strong testament to Nepal's international presence. According to him, it confirms that Nepali players are capable on the world sports stage and that esports has great potential in Nepal. 

'When teams like DRS won prizes worth crores of rupees in the past, its commercial value was established and this increased the interest of the government and other bodies,' he said. 'The success shown by the teams on the international stage has given both pressure and inspiration to bring esports into a systematic system.'

There was a great deal of interest in esports in Nepal after DRS Gaming won second place in the Grand Finals of the 'PUBG Mobile Global Championship' held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2023 and brought in more than 20 million rupees in prize money. After that success, the government has formed regulatory bodies like Ishan and NESA, indicating that it will encourage this sector. Kathmandu Metropolitan City had allocated Rs 10 million for the promotion of eSports in the budget for the fiscal year 2079/80. However, the budget implementation phase was not without controversy.

The then Mayor (current Prime Minister) Balendra Shah was even accused of allocating the amount targeting the group 'DRS' affiliated with his friend Victor Poudel. Although Prime Minister Shah has not discussed eSports or gaming much on social media recently, people close to him say that he himself is interested in mobile gaming and believes that this sector should be legally regulated.

Those involved in eSports point out that domestic eSports activity has been almost zero recently. CR Seven Hora said that players are fleeing as there are no facilities available in this sector and there is no competition. ‘The government, through Ishan and other agencies, should have organized tournaments with prize money of Rs 3-4 lakh every two to three months,’ he said. ‘That would have made it easier for us to maintain teams and pay players.’ He said that without such an environment, players would stop playing the game and Nepal’s eSports sector, which has the potential to grow rapidly, is at risk of dying.