Indian online gaming platform Mobile Premier League (MPL) has announced the acquisition of eSports platform GamingMonk for an undisclosed sum. 

GamingMonk is an eSports gaming company based out of New Delhi that hosts competitive gaming tournaments across platforms - PC, console and mobile - both online and offline and also provides a live streaming feature.

It hosts tournaments for some of the most popular games of the country such as PUBG Mobile, Free Fire, Valorant, League of Legends and Fortnite.

The portal has hosted over 23,000 tournaments and has 1.3 million registered users.

The acquisition of GamingMonk will augment MPL's efforts in reaching its target audience and engage with users effectively. MPL will be able to bring to market important national, regional and global tournaments and develop a full suite of eSports and broadcasting capabilities.

"With the increased consumption of esports in the last couple of years and it becoming as competitive as any other sport, it gives us immense pleasure to present our users with the best of games to play, and enjoy their passion for gaming," Sai Srinivas, co-founder and chief operating officer of MPL, said.

As part of the deal, MPL has absorbed the complete GamingMonk team.

"We are extremely excited to be part of MPL,” said Ashwin Haryani, co-founder, GamingMonk. “From the very onset, GamingMonk’s vision was to change the esports scenario in India, and I strongly believe that our collaboration with MPL will not only help us accomplish our goal, but also transform the way every individual in our country views eSports.”

MPL has also launched Esports Arena, a platform that will host eSports tournaments every fortnight for games such as chess, World Cricket Championship and pool.

Each of these tournaments is free to enter for gamers and will carry a cash prize of INR 10 lakh. MPL will also stream the games on its social media platforms.

These tournaments have been a huge success for MPL, with the live stream views crossing five million and over 70,000 participants registering for four such competitions.