Imports, right or wrong? You decide!

As we know, South Asia as a region, has not been performing up to the mark in recent international tournaments. To counter this, many organizations like Orangutan Esports, Reckoning Esports, Revenant Esports, Gods Reign and many others, have either started importing players to there team, or are planning to do so. 

Reckoning Esports have non Indian players like fishball, zeek and soulm8 in there squad. Revenant Esports have JoshS and Ching, who are from South East Asia in there squad, while Orangutan had Persia from Korea, tesseract from the Philippines, along with aduka as well, and amid rumors, they are also hiring the ex Enigma Gaming roster along with 2 more foreign players. As leaked by reporter Seulgi, Gods Reign are hiring the ex-BONKERS player tixx to there Valorant roster, following the announcement of benching psydreams and Knightrider from there roster.

This, although might be good news to some, but not to others. Malav, who is one of the reputed casters and analysts from South Asia, who has also worked in Global Esports as an analyst in the past, recently opened up on this topic through his twitter. He said "Unfortunate that orgs see the value in imports over creating scouting lines and developing/finding talent in the region. It's probably the best way to buy short term success but not sure how viable the approach is in the long run."

Unfortunate that orgs see the value in imports over creating scouting lines and developing/finding talent in the region. It's probably the best way to buy short term success but not sure how viable the approach is in the long run.

— Malav Popat (@MalavPopat) January 18, 2023

While some may disagree with this and some may agree, for what we know, this certainly woke up the entire twitter side of the Indian Gaming community. Few argued that its better to bring players who are already experienced and already have the recognition, so that others can also improve in there presence, while others said that homegrown talent will help the scene survive in the long term. 

Sid, who is the manager of content group and esports organization S8UL, and also a reputed streamer, gave his opinions on the matter, saying : 

 

The smaller orgs with less money in the bank will keep investing on new talent because it’s cheaper not because they care about ‘long term’. Give most of them a budget like vlt or Revenant and they will also get imports, I guarantee it. That’s just how it works everywhere.

— S8UL SID (@S8ulsidbhai) January 18, 2023

Replying to this, Malav said that teams with imports have not really showed results, and the only notable performances were yb's addition to Enigma Gaming, and Tesseract's coming to India, joining Orangutan and later Enigma Gaming. To which Sid also replied : 

The gamble is still worth it when you have money in the bank. The real problem lies in some of our CSGO failures still gate keeping and taking up spots in some of our valo teams. They retire every 2 weeks or talk on Twitter about how they’re super motivated for the future.

— S8UL SID (@S8ulsidbhai) January 18, 2023

Owner of Esports organization Velocity Gaming, Manoj "Sentinel" Kashyap, popularly also known as Anna also gave his views on the matter, and said that there is a huge skill gap between our players and there SEA counterparts. 

I understand a skill gap exists, but I truly think it’s something that can easily be Bridged. It’s not only the players job to get better at the game. His teammates, coach and analyst will push him to be a better player. The financial investment on an Indian player is much lower

— Malav Popat (@MalavPopat) January 18, 2023

Head of Esports at Orangutan Gaming, who were primarily the first organization in India to bring foreign players to our region, Hades, also replied to this, by saying that almost 90% of the players in India are not motivated enough to perform and improve, and are doing it for the monetary benefits,  

90% of Indian players are lazy and just wanna make money , why would one waste time on these players ? Getting imports maximises the chances of other 10% players to step up and be the best , while other non pro players gets inspired to be one of them :)

— Vinay Rao (@hadesplaysgg) January 18, 2023

Although the argument went on for the entire night, what we at EsportsNewsIN feel, is that imports are necessary for any budding esports region, especially one like ours. Not only do these imports increase the average standard of gameplay in a region, but they will also pass on a reality check to the undedicated and unmotivated players of our region.

Let us know what you think in the comments or on our twitter, and make sure to follow if you already haven't!