Nimish Raut, Global Head – Esports: Partnerships & Special Projects at NODWIN Gaming, has been a driving force behind India’s sporting and esports evolution over the past decade. From launching traditional sports IPs at Red Bull and Star Sports to building world-class esports leagues with Riot Games and Fnatic, Nimish has consistently been ahead of the curve. In this conversation, he opens up about what led him to bet early on esports, how to build culturally rooted IPs with global appeal, and what it will take for gaming to become India’s next mass sport.

You moved into esports when it was still a niche in India. What gave you the conviction to bet early on its potential?
My journey into esports started with a personal connection. Gaming has been part of my life since I was a kid. By age 10, I was renting out Nintendo and 8-bit/16-bit consoles in my housing complex. That early hustle taught me gaming could be more than fun—it could be a business.

Later, while working at Red Bull, I got back into gaming, especially League of Legends, and began seeing it through a new lens. Around the same time, I was involved in building traditional sports leagues, which helped me understand how successful ecosystems are structured and scaled.

By 2015–16, I could see esports reaching a global tipping point. The league model, monetisation strategy, and fan engagement playbook from traditional sports felt directly transferable. That led me to Riot Games in Singapore, where I immersed myself in operations, branding, and monetisation—and then later to Fnatic in India.

Now at NODWIN, my focus is on building scalable esports IPs and driving revenue. But the foundation has always been that mix of instinct, personal passion, and a strategic belief that gaming would be the next frontier in entertainment.

You’ve worked on marquee properties—from IPL and EPL to Riot and Fnatic. What do world-class sports IPs consistently get right about fan engagement?
The best sports IPs nail three things: people play the sport, people watch the sport, and brands want to be part of it.

If people only play but don’t watch, there’s no spectator economy. If people only watch but don’t play, it loses cultural stickiness. The sweet spot is when both participation and viewership thrive—and brands integrate in ways that feel natural, not forced.

Football is a great example. Massive player base, massive audience, and brands like Coke and Adidas activating in ways that feel part of the culture. No matter the sport, when participation, viewership, and commercial interest align, the IP endures.

You’ve worked on both the brand and league sides. How does your partnership approach shift between the two?
On the brand side, it’s about alignment. You’re finding platforms or IPs that reflect the brand’s identity and help tell its story in an authentic way. The goal is emotional engagement and cultural relevance.

On the league side, you’re building that story from scratch. You’re ensuring grassroots participation, viewership potential, and commercial sustainability. You’re not just creating for one brand—you’re creating an ecosystem multiple partners can believe in and grow with.

Take Kabaddi, for instance. It’s built a strong viewership base on TV, but for long-term success, it needs to keep nurturing players and remain culturally aspirational. So while both sides involve partnerships, the league side is about building the whole engine, not just attaching a logo.

At Red Bull and now NODWIN, you’ve built IPs that are locally rooted but globally appealing. What’s the framework behind that?
It starts with authenticity. If the story is real and rooted in culture, it can travel.

At Red Bull, we built Red Bull Jod Ke Tod around Dahi Handi—a hyper-local sport from Maharashtra involving human pyramids and community celebration. We treated it like a global sport, with structure, storytelling, and high production values. Eventually, we turned it into a Discovery documentary that reached international audiences.

That became the blueprint: find something culturally rich, tell the story with care, and package it with universal values like teamwork and strength.

At NODWIN, we applied that same thinking while building BGMS. We didn’t want just another esports tournament—we wanted a product that could engage mainstream audiences. So we broke the typical one-week format and introduced a more immersive broadcast structure with fewer games per day and tighter storytelling. We also innovated with formats like PIP ads and L-banners to evolve how brands interact with esports.

India already does this across its culture—we just need to bring the same intent to our sports and subcultures. If it’s honest, ambitious, and well-produced, it will resonate anywhere.

You’ve navigated both legacy sports audiences and next-gen gaming communities. How do you bridge those expectations?
I’m a huge believer in real-world experiences. There’s nothing like the energy of a stadium or the shared excitement among fans. At the same time, I love the digitally native sporting ecosystem—highlight reels, creator content, interactive streams. Digital has widened access, but real emotional connection still comes from touch and feel.

In India, most esports is still consumed online. We’ve seen publisher-led LAN events, but they haven’t yet hit the spectacle of global events like LoL EMEA or the Esports World Cup in Riyadh—which feel like full-on cultural festivals.

What we need are fan-first esports events—where gameplay blends with pop culture, music, creators, and community celebration. Comic Con gave us a taste of that, but esports needs its own version. The future is hybrid: digital-first, but physically unforgettable.

India’s esports scene is booming, but what’s the next leap? What still needs to change for it to go truly mainstream?
The real leap will come from a generation that’s growing up with gaming at the center of how they connect, play, and compete. My 12-year-old son already sees competitive gaming as aspirational as cricket. That generational mindset shift is what will push esports into the mainstream.

But to truly unlock its potential, three things need to align.

First, access to more global titles. Right now, geopolitical restrictions limit exposure to major games. We need a multi-title, more open ecosystem to fuel creativity and competition.

Second, infrastructure and support systems. We have the players, but we need deeper professionalism—stronger ops, content, brand partnerships. The good news is, more young professionals are joining the space, and career interest in esports is rising.

Third, collaboration across publishers, media, brands, and organisers. Publishers need to enable openness, media must invest in storytelling, and brands should treat gaming as a long-term space—not a campaign checklist.

The momentum is real. With the right push, esports can absolutely become one of India’s dominant entertainment and sport formats.