Kohima: The Nagaland government has elevated the Hornbill E-Sports Championship Season 2 to the status of a flagship event at this year’s Hornbill Festival, signalling the growing prominence of competitive gaming in the state.
Announcing the upgrade on Wednesday, Youth Resources and Sports (YRS) director Kethosituo Sekhose said the championship will take place on December 8 and 9 at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Kohima. This year’s edition will feature additional game titles, higher prize money and the largest participation the state has seen in an e-sports event.
Organised in collaboration with the E-Sports Association of Nagaland (ESAN), the event has already registered 512 teams and players, along with 240 individual competitors. The prize pool has been enhanced from ₹6 lakh to ₹10 lakh.
Sekhose noted that the inaugural edition last year attracted over 1.5 lakh online viewers and around 500 spectators on the ground—momentum that the department hopes to build on.
The 2024 championship will feature multiple titles. In BGMI, 16 qualifying teams—including participants from Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, Bihar, Mizoram and West Bengal—will compete for ₹4.5 lakh. Mobile Legends 5v5, introduced this year, has eight teams vying for ₹3 lakh and additional in-game Diamonds worth ₹1 lakh.
E-Chess (11 athletes) carries a prize of ₹75,000, E-Football (14 players) offers ₹1 lakh, while FC 25, with 60 entries, has a ₹75,000 prize pool.
The YRS director highlighted that esports made its debut at the Khelo India Youth Games this year, where a Nagaland athlete clinched gold in E-Football—an achievement that has further energised the state’s gaming community.
ESAN president Thejavituo Sekhose said the qualification rounds were conducted online in October and November, with matches streamed on YouTube.
Finalists are now set for the in-person LAN finals.
Addressing concerns about fairness, Sekhose said no state quota was applied, encouraging wider participation and boosting sports tourism.
He added that the department plans to host an Esports Music Festival after the closing ceremony, featuring performers from Nagaland, Mizoram and Pune.
Sekhose emphasised that esports is now recognised by the International Olympic Committee and has become a global billion-dollar industry.
He said Nagaland and Mizoram were identified as India’s fastest-growing esports states at the All India Game Developers Conference in Hyderabad.
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Several young people in Nagaland, he noted, are already working in game design, development and other digital services.
To further nurture this talent pool, the YRS department is exploring the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for Esports—a proposed hub for developers, athletes, designers and digital marketers.
Such a centre, he said, would allow local youth to gain exposure to industry-level training without leaving the state.
Responding to concerns about esports affecting physical sports, Sekhose said top athletes require physical fitness as well, noting that advanced esports facilities worldwide include gyms and wellness support.
The proposed centre would incorporate similar features to ensure holistic development.
