Mumbai: A gaming and esports company Penta Esports has announced the launch of its latest IP, the 'Penta Collegiate League' presented by Loco, for colleges and universities throughout India. This league's tournaments will stream exclusively on Loco's app and website. This league's other partners include 'Leverage Edu' as a study abroad partner and 'GOQii' as a healthcare partner.

With Rs 30,00,000 as an annual scholarship award, the first year of the ‘Penta Collegiate League’ will feature two esports titles — Valorant on PC and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) on mobile — and will have two qualifiers each for both games. The registration for the first qualifiers has already begun and will continue until 19 June 2022. The matches of the first qualifiers will start on 21 June 2022. The dates for the second qualifier will be announced soon.

Both the playoff matches of the qualifiers and the final match of the first season will be broadcast live exclusively on Penta Esports. Students can complete the registration process for the tournament by visiting ‘www.pentaesports.com’. The league's complete information, including match schedules, match results, VODs of tournaments and leagues, content, news, announcements, and much more, can be found at the company's official website.

Speaking about the idea behind this new esports league, Penta Esports founder and CEO Anurag Khurana said, “Our major focus is to provide opportunities to the budding esports athletes at the grass-root level. Esports is rapidly gaining popularity as a viable path for many and we want to provide a platform similar to conventional sports to aspiring esports athletes. The scholarship aims to help esports athletes in their endeavours.”

Commenting on the partnership, Loco founder Ashwin Suresh, said, “Game streaming is no longer looked upon as just a casual hobby. As more gamers become creators and start streaming, and new tournament organisers create more events, newer audiences are drawn to watch this content. The increased viewership will eventually lead to an increase in revenue for the overall ecosystem. As a pioneer of this industry, we’re excited to see it expand and we’re playing an active role in helping it grow. With our association with the ‘Penta Collegiate League’, we aim to support budding streamers and kickstart their esports careers.”