Orangutan Gaming to stop participating in minor BGMI tournaments

In an Instagram post, the head of esports at Orangutan, Vinay “Hades” Rao announced that their BGMI line-up will stop participating in tournaments or events with less than Rs 5 lakh prize pool from March 1.

“Starting from 1st March, the Orangutan BGMI team won't be participating in any tournament with a prize pool less than 5 Lakhs, unless it's a qualifier for a major tournament,” Rao said in his post.

Orangutan is one of the most popular esports org in the Indian gaming industry. The team has been regular across various BGMI esports events and boasts a huge fan following.

Why did the Organization take such an extreme step?

Since the unban, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) has gained a ton of popularity. Several organizers have hosted multiple tournaments. However, in all the rush, it’s the players that are burned-out entertaining fans.

The prize money in various tournaments just does not make it worth spending days grinding across multiple weeks. Furthermore, there have been multiple cases of delayed prize distribution in various tournaments.

“It's high time we make some internal arrangements within the teams so that we have a good esports ecosystem ahead. Tired of TOs (Tournament Organizers) delaying the prize pool and making the players grind from morning to night for minor prize pools with no POV streaming.

What happens next?

As mentioned, Orangutan has made it quite clear about their move in the future. With the popularity of esports and gaming rising each day, multiple other organizations are entering the industry.

This not only creates more competition but also forces players to work harder without substantial returns. More big organizations might follow a similar route in future. If that happens, the organizers will likely increase the prize pool to have more teams with higher fan following.