Animesh Agarwal, also known as 8bit Thug, is the founder and CEO, 8Bit Creatives, India’s leading e-sports consulting and talent agency. He is also the founder of S8UL, a hub of gaming content and e-sports.
Agarwal, has donned several hats as an entrepreneur, an ex-pro gamer, a monster energy e-sports athlete, a gaming and luxury lifestyle content creator and a pioneer in the Indian gaming industry. He understands India's gaming industry inside-out and is dedicated to shaping the business of e-sports in India.
Agarwal's YouTube channel (8bitthug) has over a million subscribers and he is followed by over 7 lakh people on Instagram.
CNBCTV18.com caught up Agarwal for a long conversation where he spoke how he got into gaming, his inspiration to set up S8UL, how gaming industry is shaping in India, the stigmas around gaming and much more.
Excerpts of the interview are below
Do you used to play video games as a kid?
Animesh Agarwal: Yes I used to play video games. When I was in my class 10th I used to have Play Station. I have played video games till I was a teenager. So yeah, I was always into video games.
So when was the first time you realized that you need to be a hardcore gamer?
Animesh Agarwal: As I said I used to play games when I was a kid and even as a teenager. But when I moved to Delhi I used to have a lot of spare time so I started playing different games. I started exploring games. Sitting in a PG, there was nothing much that I could do. So in my free time I used to play games on mobile or play FIFA on my laptop.
I came across a couple of mobile games which were a little bit on the social front like Clash Royale and Boom Beach where you could get in touch with people around the world and have your clans. So I started playing those games because it was a team effort. It felt really nice. I felt too much engrossed into the games. Everyday I would check what my clanmates are doing. We would discuss strategies. I would say towards late 2015 I got introduced to e-sports and that was because of the game that I was playing. The game announced that it was hosting a big tournament in Los Angeles. I was surprised that why is a game hosting a tournament with a prize pool of $1 lakh. That ignited my curiosity. I wanted to understand why are they doing this? Because before that I had never heard that any game hosting such a tournament. So for me 2015 was when the reality hit. I got to know about the tournaments with real cash prize.
There was no Indian participation. But I did want to deep dive into what is happening. I continued to do research over the Internet in my free time. I got to know about the teams from abroad that are well funded. These teams have salaries in lakhs of rupees and have expenditures in millions of dollars. These teams have full set ups and there are so many more tournaments.
So I studied about all this. But because of my CA I had to take a break. When I cleared my level 1 CA exam I had a lot of spare time I started following a lot of game streams on Twitch. So I started following creators like Ninja who are playing games and getting donations. That was another new world that I got introduced to.
Being in India I though it is very good to watch but it can never be replicated in India. So after I cleared my exams I though I have lot of time so I can take a break and try something in gaming. So I started my career as a streamer. I would like to try and become someone like a Ninja and I would stream my games. So I started my streaming journey in July 2018. Eventually the mobile gaming boom happened in India. Jio mobile came a little before that. But mobile gaming started exploding. People started understanding gaming.
So converting my dreams into reality was not that difficult because I had the knowledge. My journey as a gamer was short-lived as I decided to stop playing a year after 2018. I realized that if I continued playing myself then who will set up the ecosystem. There needs to be someone who decides to bring in new players. There needs to be someone who forms teams. Everyone wants to jump into the ship but very few wants to tread the ship.
Also Read: Gaming has to be immersive and not interruptive, says Animesh Agarwal
In another interview of yours you have encouraged the youngsters to focus on studies while playing games. You said that youngsters should have some educational qualification. Why did you say that?
Animesh Agarwal :It is from my own personal experience. The reason why I was so confident in doing what I was doing. I was confident that whatever I was doing if that doesn't work out I can always go back and have another job and I can continue to lead my family. Also I think that this (e-sports) is a growing industry. It is not filled to the brim with job opportunities. So everyone is trying to be the next Animesh or the next Mortal. That might go vague. It could be a person with great skill might not be at the right place and the right time. And because of the lack of structure, they might never get identified. So the most important years of their lives from 16 to 24 might get wasted. From my own experience I can say that today I know that if anything goes wrong with the industry I can go back, do my CA finals and get a job. That is the reason I am able to take such bold steps. So I believe it is always good to have a back up when you are entering a new industry. It is not just for gaming. It is true for any industry that is booming. You don't know. It may be looking good right now, but what if it doesn't become that big. It is not being negative. It is about being well planned. My idea is for the kids to plan really well. And that is why I tell this to anyone or everyone I meet. Plan your back up really well.
How did you set up S8UL?
Animesh Agarwal: I started with a clan called 8 bit. It was four of us. We were playing PUBG and then we represented India. When I came back after representing India in Thailand, I met Mortal (Naman Mathur). He is my current gaming partner and one of India's biggest gaming sensation. He had a team called Soul. So we had two teams, 8 bit and Soul. He had great numbers, I had great vision. So we thought if we combine ourselves we can definitely build something together. He readily agreed. I don't know. Stars were in our favour. Two unknown people from two different cities met for two days and both of them decided to build this together. This was in 2018 December.
Then both teams were treading separately. My team 8 bit and his team as Soul. Then came in picture 8 bit goldy (Lokesh Jain). He came on board of 8 bit as a partner. As both teams grew we realized that it is difficult to handle everything with two different entities. Then we decided to merge the two things. That is why it is now called S8UL. From Soul we removed U and got 8 bit's 8. That is how S8UL came into existence.
S8UL Co-Founders (L-R) - Naman Mathur aka Mortal, Lokesh Jain aka Goldy & Animesh Agarwal aka 8Bit Thug
Many games and content creators are eager to know how to be part of S8UL?
Animesh Agarwal: For any talent to get that fame and recognition it is always about the right platform, right place, right time and right kind of luck. At S8UL we are always looking out for new talent. We are very selective, but we are always looking out for new talent. To be honest for anyone to join us right now, believe me, it is a very random process. I don't know if we have established a rule of thumb.
However we are also looking out for talents on YouTube how the new talent is coming up. We look how these talents are doing their shows, how they are adding value to gaming. Can they add value to e-sports as such. That is how these talents can really join us. Now that S8UL has reached a certain level it is difficult for a new comer to join.
We are trying to change this. This is something exclusive. We are soon trying to organize a talent program which we plan to run on a year to year basis. This will help us to find people who can join us on a year to year basis.
We don't want the gaming talent to be randomized in India. For example if I am a cricket enthusiast and my ultimate dream is to play for India. So there is a structure. I will have to play for district, then go the state, then play Ranji and IPL and then move to the Indian cricket team. In e-sports in India we don't have that structure. We are trying to change that. If we cannot do that for the competitive side we can change the content side. This is something in our plans.
So recently S8UL had its first gaming festival in Bengaluru. How was the response?
Animesh Agarwal: The audience really loved it. It was an experiment that I wanted to do after being the part of so many other events. I thought that we have added enough value to other events so now it is time to step into the zone where we build something of our own. It was amazing. In a city like Bangalore we got over 13,000 attendees. We had over 200 million digital impressions. It was a banger response. We saw a whole-heated gaming fest. I am super satisfied with the response. We are looking forward to Mumbai where we will have this event in 2024.
So in your experience which is the most e-sport crazy city in India?
Animesh Agarwal: We have huge response from Mumbai and Delhi. This I am saying from the data that I have. But if you talk about regions, we definitely believe that the North East (from where I come from) and Southern India is where a lot of talent comes from. There are things that we are trying to do to better the structure for them. There have been so many amazing teams that have been coming from South. They have insane talent. But I believe that is much more talent that can from South and also North East. That is where the raw talent is hidden.
How do you see India;s gaming industry and the e-sport culture grow in the near future?
Animesh Agarwal: We are on the correct path. Olympics and the Asian Games have started recognizing e-sports. India is sending a e-sportcontingent to the upcoming Asian Games. A lot of things are happening in the e-sport industry. In the next five years we should see the boom in gaming in India that no one expected . Gaming and content will be a big chunk of India's digital revolution. We are super optimistic.
Gaming is still not considered a healthy habit. There is always some negativity around it. How can that change?
Animesh Agarwal: There are two aspects to the stigma attached to gaming. If I go back to the time when I was 12, I used to watch TV. After two hours my parents used to say to stop watching TV. Although I used to watch Cartoon Network which has no harm. But it is about parenthood that everything needs to be done in limits. So I am never against that comes under good parenthood.
Now coming to the age group of 16 and beyond where you can be part of the e-sports. There are people who are handling business or studying, but still got into gaming. If someone has to leave everything to get into gaming that is not really viable. Not every child can play games 10 hours a day and become India's best gamer. It is about age and time and at which phase of life you are. I would say that there is no stigma attached but it is good parenthood.
If we would have been sitting in America the conversation would have been different.
When I meet parents at the airports, when I meet my fans at the offline events, I have had so many kids around my locality who bring their parents to my house. The parents want to understand what is e-sports. How is it done?
The inhibition around gaming will only change with time. We cannot rush into it. It has been five years since I got into gaming. It has been two to three years since media started talking about gaming. It has been a year or so since government started to show interest in gaming. So we are still moving very fast. Let us give this industry some more time. Another four to five years. May be with time every parent would want that they have a gamer in their home. But for that let the industry grow. There should be more positive news. Maybe if someone wins a medal in the Asian Games only then will things head in the right direction. Maybe some Indian gamer wins something big.
Any exciting gamer or content creator that you want to be part of S8UL?
Animesh Agarwal: I would love to have Carryminati as the part of S8UL. We vibe really well with him. A lot of us have looked up to him when we were not even in gaming. So he has been a role icon for a lot of gamers. I think he was India's gaming streamer in India and now he is Asia's biggest YouTube content creator.
You have some amazing collection of sneakers and cars. Which is the next pair of sneaker and car that you want to add to your collection?
Animesh Agarwal: I have got too many sneakers that I have stopped scrolling sneakers. But I am trying to get Travis Mocha Low. It is a sneaker that is missing from my collection. As far as cars are concerned I don't think I will be able to buy a car for the next five years.
What is one thing that you want to achieve that will make you feel that "you have made it" in your life?
Animesh Agarwal: My hunger will never let me feel satisfied. We are the only Indian team to have two global recognition awards. One award was the global impact in mobile gaming which is a very big award. Maybe Animesh from four years ago would have wanted to reach these levels. I don't know what that benchmark is.
