An Interview with Bravado Gaming at DreamHack India 2018

The North American Invitees of the DreamHack India CS:GO Invitational 2018, Team Bravado, won the Major, beating the Indian Team Signify.

How was DreamHack Mumbai 2018 for you?

From what we have seen it’s really good, the setup, stands and everything, it’s all good. Looks like any other DreamHack to us. It’s looking pretty good so far especially since it’s the first Major gaming tournament in India and the future of gaming in India looks to be getting better and better.

How do you like it compared to the other competitive events, since it’s new in India?

All of the competitive events are pretty much the same for us. The organisers really want to make it happen and want to take care of everything. So as long as the teams are taken care of, we are happy to go anywhere; doesn’t matter which country.

What are your thoughts on the esports scene in India?

To be honest, we don’t have much idea of that. The only team that we knew about was OpTic India. We’ve been told a little about the Indian gaming scene and pretty sure that India has really good talents for gaming but because there isn’t that much exposure like the European scene and the North American scene, the growth is very limited. Though gradually we can see the growth being there, with DreamHack and a lot more to come and it’s just gonna keep on improving.

What was the reason behind the relocation to North America, and what difference did you notice between the competitive scene there and that of South Africa?

Obviously, South Africa is in a pretty similar position like India, it’s an isolated scene and we felt trapped, so we made this move to get into the international gaming scene. Previously, we only went up against international teams when we qualified for tournaments and it happened only 2-3 times in a year. After the relocation to North America, in the last ten months, the growth has been exponential. It was worth it. The team we were before and the team we are now, what we have learned as a team and individually, how we go up against other teams, it’s definitely worth it. In South Africa, we could maybe practice from 6 O’ Clock at night to maybe 7 in the morning, in North America, we can do it to 1 or 2 O’ Clock in the afternoon, so it really paid off. Our ranking has gone up from 150th to 27th in the world. There are also much more teams to play against in North America than in South Africa, we play against more play styles, so there becomes more room for improvement.

How do you feel about the new updates in csgo that is the danger zone mode, and how the game is completely free-to-play now, and what do you think the future of CS:GO will be because of these updates?

We think that free-to-play is a really good feature because it brings more players and the game gets a bigger player base, so free-to-play was a much needed feature in the game to increase the number of players in the game. Though this will also bring more cheaters in the game but other than that it looks pretty good.

Tried the Danger Zone a little, it’s fine but I feel I’m more of a competitive player than a Battle Royale player, still it’s a nice touch to the game. They keep updating the game, adding new features. Think of it like, the people who can’t play casual, they can start there and work their way up, and with free-to-play now, it’s going to be really good for the game. Hopefully it will draw more players to play CS. But for us, the 5v5 competitive will always be the thing.