Dubai-based esports organisation Galaxy Racer has announced a partnership with Asian electronic music festival Sunburn.
As a result of the deal, the two parties will join forces to host the VALORANT India Invitational.
The deal marks Sunburn’s first foray into the esports industry. Through the deal, the festival will become the official venue partner of the event, which is taking place at the GMR Arena in Hyderabad from November 18th-20th.
Teams in attendance, which include Paper Rex, Team Secret and RRQ, will compete for a share of $100,000 (~£87,137) in prize money.
Alongside the tournament, a music video highlighting the event will be shown in addition to a performance from DJ Snake. The appearance of music artists at esports events is nothing out of the ordinary. During the 2022 League of Legends World Championship final, American rapper Lil Nas X performed the tournament’s anthem in the opening ceremony, which featured other notable artists.
The Indian esports market keeps expanding at an impressive rate. In November, Skyesports announced a partnership with The Pokémon Company and in October, sportswear brand PUMA entered the market through a deal with Revenant Esports.
Galaxy Racer continues to consolidate its position as an emerging esports organisation within the industy. In September, its female-focused grassroots initiative, HER Galaxy, was selected for the Trailblazer Venture Studio accelerator programme backed by the likes of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Karan Singh, CEO of Spacebound, spoke on the deal: “Collaborating with Galaxy Racer gives us an opportunity to enter the Gaming industry, which is on the rise in India.
“Music is a part of gaming and esports and this is just the right synergy for us. We are always on the lookout for unique distribution and this is one of them to engage our fans with this unique blend.”
