Nazara reported a 45% surge in total revenue to ₹131 crore, with a net profit of ₹13.5 crore, for the April-June 2021 quarter.

Nazara Technologies, India’s first listed pure-play gaming company is betting big on esports. The company’s revenue from the segment has doubled in the last one year and the management believes that the acquisition of the Turkish company, Publishme, in June 2021, will further boost its prospects.

Esports, a category that refers to video game competitions, often in the form of multiplayer games played by professionals and amateurs alike, is the fastest growing segment for the company that counts billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala amongst its backers.

CLSA estimates that esports is a $100 million market ⁠— about a tenth of the larger $1.2 billion mobile gaming industry ⁠— that is set to see competition from biggies like Jio, Dream11, Mobile Premier League and Paytm First Games in the near future.

But Nazara is building up muscle to take them on. The company’s revenue from esports doubled to ₹53.2 crore this year. Now, ₹2 out of every ₹5 rupees of its revenue comes from esports. Gamified learning contributes to just about the same.

Nazara reported a 45% surge in total revenue to ₹131 crore, with a net profit of ₹13.5 crore, for the April-June 2021 quarter. For comparison, it reported a loss of ₹21.7 crore in the same period last year.

Shares of Nazara Technologies were up by over 3% as of 11:20 a.m., on August 2. It debuted on the bourses earlier this year at ₹1,990 – a premium of over 80% on the issue price of ₹1,100. Despite the 25% rally in the last one month, the stock remains 4% lower than the listing price.