Indian esports company, Nodwin Gaming announced the India Premiership 2023 today with Kingfisher joining as the title sponsor. Kingfisher, under the Heineken-owned United Breweries Group, is an Indian beer brand.
The tournament will happen across three seasons throughout the year and will feature open qualifiers. The Winter Season has currently been announced which will culminate with a LAN final. Just like previous years, the other two seasons are expected to be the Summer and Fall. The game titles for the other two seasons could be different.
Kingfisher India Premiership 2023 Winter: Everything you need to know about the esports tournament
The Kingfisher India Premiership 2023 Winter will feature four games, three of which have currently been announced. These are World Cricket Championship (WCC) 3, Tekken 7, and Clash of Clans. The 4th game will be announced at a later date.
Registrations for the three games are currently live on the official website from Dec. 22 to Jan. 3. However, players aged 21 years old or above can only register.
The total prize pool for the event hasn’t been announced either yet. The schedule for the tournament is as follows, though:
While many people would question advertising alcohol in esports considering the young audience, Nodwin Gaming and Kingfisher are doing it anyway. It doesn’t seem that they would directly promote beer – something which isn’t permitted according to Indian laws. The official press release for the event describes Kingfisher as a “brand associated with some of the best music, food and sporting events.”
It appears that the India Premiership would be used to promote the Kingfisher brand or surrogate advertising through its packaged drinking water.
Additionally, the age of registration for the tournament has been set at 21 years old which is the legal drinking age in the majority of India.
History of the India Premiership
The India Premiership has a long history in the country. The IP is owned by Nodwin Gaming and is one of the oldest running tournaments in the country.
Earlier, Nodwin used to run the tournament with the German esports company ESL. It was called the ESL India Premiership with qualifiers happening on ESL Play. For the Kingfisher India Premiership, however, Nodwin has shifted to Start.gg.
The ESL India Premiership was started in 2017 and featured three seasons each year: Winter, Summer, and Fall. Each season usually featured multiple games including CSGO and Dota 2. Addiotionally, they culminated in a LAN final.
It wasn’t held in 2021 and 2022, though. Now, Nodwin has brought it back with a new title sponsor in 2023.
