Six nights a week, Rishab Karanwal sits down at his table at domestic at nine.30 pm, turns on his pc, and settles into recreation. For the following couple of hours, he is going by his game name Raka. He plays till about 1.30 am or 2 am without a break in between. Then Karanwal goes to the mattress, receives up in the morning, and heads to his day job at an organization in Gurgaon. Raka is finished, and Rishab Karanwal is returned. Until again at night time. Kanwal, 25, isn’t just playing video games for self-gratification.

He performs for a live audience of one,000-peculiar viewers, folks who music in to look at him day by day with the routine of appointment television. For three nights every week, Kanwal’s game of choice is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG as its miles commonly regarded. As his person parachutes into a panorama and dexterously kills enemies, human beings music in to observe him, comment live and donate cash thru a link under the video. It’s a testament to the recognition of both Karanwal in addition to PUBG.

The online multiplayer game, which was launched in 2017, has exploded around the sector, with greater than 30 million energetic users each day. In India, its cult reputation is undeniable. A survey in December discovered it’s miles 3 times as popular as its closest rival. On Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store, it’s miles the pinnacle grossing sport. Those who are hooked on it play it even for the duration of school and workplace hours.

This obsession with PUBG has provoked a fierce backlash: towns are clamping down, public hobby litigation has been filed in opposition to it, and it is often the target of politics. Just the remaining week, ten college students had been arrested in Rajkot, Gujarat, for flouting a police ban on the game. Not that that is in all likelihood to dampen the enthusiasm of the younger. There are 120 million online game enthusiasts in India. Many of them are taking gaming to the extent of live spectator recreation, gambling, streaming video games, PUBG, Fortnite, Counterstrike, and League of Legends. Within the system, they make lots of rupees each month.

Kanwal, who changed into declared Streamer of the Year in 2018 at the India Gaming Awards, became many of the earliest to go into this area in 2016. “To be honest, I never notion I may want to make cash off this,” he stated. “When I began, even Rs 1,000 became the first-rate. There became no gaming scene in India [then].” Initially, people have been skeptical approximately his desire. “[They would ask], ‘What are you doing? Baap ka paisa UDA Raha hai (Are you losing your father’s cash)?’” But he caught to his gaming weapons and now earns around Rs 50,000 a month from an aggregate of streams, along with ad sales on YouTube, channel subscriptions, logo sponsorships, and donations from viewers.