On May 2 and 3, Oberoi Mall in Mumbai became the venue for some gruesome duels. Bones were broken, Spines shattered, Internal Organs were ripped out and bodies were sliced and diced in a multitude of ways. Of course, all this only happened in a game, namely Mortal Kombat X. Gamers from around India were facing off each other to compete for the top prize in the Mortal Kombat Cup India Qualifiers. Organised by WB Games and e-xpress Interactive and partnered by Games the Shop, Sony, BenQ, Oberoi Mall, Flipkart and Monster, The two-day event saw its participation double from the expected 32 to 64 players. Gamers flew in from all over India for the tournament at their own expense, reaffirming the faith in India’s nascent but growing e-sports scene.
The qualifiers had a total prize pool of ₹30,000/- with the winner getting ₹20,000/- along with a BenQ Monitor, a t-shirt and a Champion’s Belt, as well as an all-expenses paid trip to Paris. The runner up got ₹7500 and a t-shirt and the second runner up got ₹2500 and a t-shirt as well. The winner will now go to Paris to represent India in the Mortal Kombat Cup. The tournament was played on a best of five basis with both players facing off on the same PS4. Participants were allowed to use their own controllers and we even spotted someone with an Arcade stick. The final match was a Best of seven affair and started off one sided to go 3-0 before the runner up staged a valiant fightback to make it 3-2. However, he wasn’t able to keep the momentum going and the next round decided the game.
The organisers must be lauded for their choice of venue as the location certainly attracted a lot of eyeballs from people shopping in the mall, being visible from its multiple balconies and escalators. Even the gore that is seen in Mortal Kombat’s finisher moves did not put off the curious onlookers. There was a demo unit set up for those who wanted to try the game. A few ways the event could have been improved upon would be by using a larger screen to broadcast the matches to the spectators as well as some running commentary to get them involved in the tournament. Having a few cosplayers would not have been amiss either. However, it is encouraging to see game distributors in India taking an interest in cultivating the e-sports scene through initiatives like this and e-xpress must be lauded for their efforts.
Scorpion seemed to be the choice character, perhaps due to being featured on the cover art. Skill wise, it seemed few players were actually familiar with all the moves of their chosen characters and we saw a lot of repetitive moves until the final rounds. There were a few close matches however, including one where the winner had just a pixel of health left. All in all, it was an entertaining experience with plenty of scope for improvement from both the participants and the organisers. Our best wishes to the winner, Abhinav Tejan, for the Paris finals.
You can check out more pics of the event from the Games the Shop Facebook page here and here. Until next time, iLL out.
