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With Esports gaining more popularity after making it to the Asian Games, India's first franchise based-league for gaming, Esports Premier League (ESPL), is all set to roll out the second season of the tournament on June 13.

This year's league is set to engage gamers across the country in a high-voltage action with the most popular battle royale game, 'Battlegrounds Mobile India' (BGMI), which carries a whopping prize pool of Rs 1 crore.

"The first season of the Esports Premier League was a great success and this time we will try to make it even bigger. We are thrilled to have TECNO Mobile on board as the Presenting Sponsor for this event. We are also committed to providing a world-class platform for Indian talent through this league to develop the Indian esports ecosystem and take it to the next level," said ESPL Director Vishwalok Nath.

The league will be played in two separate stages in the initial phase -- online qualifiers as well as an invitational qualifier to shortlist the top 18 teams.

The first 12 teams, top-2 teams from the online event and top-10 teams from the invitational qualifiers will directly process to the final phase and compete for the top 2 spots.

The teams ranked from 3 to 10 (seven teams) in the online qualifiers and teams ranked from 11 to 18 from invitational qualifiers will compete for the other three final spots, which will also have two directly-invited teams competing and vying for the mega title.

The champion team will take home Rs 50 lakh while the second and third-placed teams will bag Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively. Top-16 teams will be awarded cash prizes and the Most Valuable Player Award-winner will get richer by Rs 1 lakh, the ESPL informed in a release on Thursday.

The upcoming edition of India's premier esports league, ESPL will start on June 15.

Talking about the recent association with ESPL, Arijeet Talapatra, CEO, TECNO Mobile India said, "India's gaming community is witnessing a boom and growing exponentially at a rate of 38% per annum. The Indian gaming industry is estimated to be valued at $3.9+ billion by 2025. These developments have h'ightened gamers' expectations from the technology sector and there is an increased demand for better and more powerful gaming devices with high-end processors, augmented speed and longer battery life."

Nath continued, "Every season we plan to do something different in order to take the league to the next level. The upcoming edition will also be action-packed, especially with players fighting it out on the BGMI esports maps which is a very popular title among the gaming community. This platform is for our athletes and they are equally excited."

He concluded by adding, "ESPL is a game-agnostic tournament to ensure that India Today Group offers the maximum opportunities to gamers across the nation."

Professional athletes as well as esports enthusiasts above the age of 16 can participate in the league. The registrations will begin on June 13 with the last date being June 20. Each team should have a minimum of four members and the interested teams can register themselves on https://espl.itg.gg/, the ESPL informed in the release.