Gaming With Heart and ‘Soul’

“Games were not just a diversion, I realized. Games could make you feel,” said Sid Meier, Canadian-American software developer. Gaming has been on an unprecedented rise ever since the onset of the pandemic. According to a report by Lumikai, the gaming industry has clocked in $2.6 billion in FY22 and is set to cross $8.6 billion by FY27. India has witnessed the coming-of-age of gamers in recent times.

Naman Mathur, better known as S8UL Mortal planned to complete his studies and get a degree with a specialised course offering the best corporate job. However, gaming was always his passion and he started uploading a few videos and playing, with no intention to take it up full-time. Upon receiving appreciation and witnessing people being entertained, his journey as a gamer and content creator started.

“When I thought of gaming and creating content, it was difficult for me to convince my mother. My promise of continuing my studies convinced her and I created my YouTube channel. I started with uploading tutorial videos with gameplay highlights of the PUBG Mobile game, and the rest just followed,” said S8UL Mortal in an interaction with Entrepreneur India.

According to Mortal, being well-connected to the audience, and being in constant touch with followers and fans is integral. Being connected with his audience gives him insights into what they want to see. He believes being an entertainer, it’s always a game of gambling with the content pieces and experimenting with them over the audience. Any content that is fun to create turns out to be the best one. Being unique is one of the few elements that make content viral.

“I remember the time my video went viral, mainly because of the hours of hard work put in before that one video got viral. Lots of practice, lots of unsuccessful videos and learning & finally the video of the unexpected clutch got viral,” added Mortal.

According to the esports veteran, he doesn’t feel bad about constructive criticism and tries to take the learnings, move on, and improve. However, as a coping mechanism, he never reacts to any troll. He states that it is not easy to deal with trolling after the hard work put in while hoping for a safer social media world for everyone including us.

“Stop worrying about the algorithm, because the algorithm is a reflection of what people are liking or consuming on the platform. Try to know the people, and what they like, and the algorithm will be your best friend. Authenticity is another important virtue to follow while creating content. Finally, be patient, and consistent,” said Mortal.

He believes creative freedom is when the creator can convey the message most convincingly. He added that while working with brands, they often together decide the best way, or sometimes the brand knows how they want to communicate the message. He claimed that he has never put a single content piece that he wasn’t satisfied with. He goes as far as saying brand content has shown him creative paths he could have never imagined.

Being called an influencer in itself is a big responsibility as millions of people are looking up to one’s words and actions, according to Mortal. The people at S8UL always stay together and believe in coming forward for any cause, be it raising awareness of any issue or addressing any happening around the globe, the goal of the organization is to stand for what is right.

“Out of all the collaborated brands, many of them you will see at the gaming house. Some brands have invested in our facility too, which clearly defines how we trust in their products’ abilities and all the credit goes to team 8Bit Creatives for maintaining such humble relations with brands,” added Mortal.

As an industry veteran in esports and gaming content now, CMO of 8Bit Creatives and co-owner of S8UL, he envisions next year to be full of experiments around content and pushing boundaries in esports.