Gaming
Delhi Comics alive as sans assemble for a supercharged Comic Con Fest
MUMBAI: If Delhi felt a little more animated this weekend, it’s because the capital stepped straight into panel-to-pavement fantasy as Delhi Comic Con burst open its gates, transforming NSIC Exhibition Grounds into a full-blown pop-culture cosmos. Presented by Maruti Suzuki Arena, powered by Crunchyroll, and held in association with Android, the three-day fest kicked off on 5 December with a fan frenzy worthy of its superhero scale.
From the moment the doors opened, the energy on Day 1 only levelled up. Fans poured in with friends, families, and fully armed fandom spirit debating plotlines, racing to book stalls stacked with manga and comics, and queuing up to meet creators they’ve admired for years. Comic Con’s signature chaos, the good kind was back in force.
International guest Chloé Hollings, the iconic voice behind Overwatch’s Widowmaker, drew massive crowds as she spoke about her journey across games, theatre, and film, from Valerian to Wolverine to Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Her presence sparked non-stop buzz, selfies, and a deep dive into the craft of voice acting.
Indian publishing powerhouses and homegrown creators held court too. Fans flocked to meet Savio Mascarenhas from Amar Chitra Katha, Indusverse’s Alok Sharma, Yali Dreams Creations’ Asvin Srivatsangam, Prasad Bhat of GraphiCurry, and Vivek Goel from Holy Cow Entertainment. The aisles thrummed with sketches, signings, and spontaneous storytelling.
The festival also spotlighted rising stars shaping India’s next wave of pop culture from 19-year-old Vaishnavi Phogat, already juggling two Webtoon series, to Marvel creator Tadam Gyadu’s India-infused narratives, to illustrator Alaina Vinayak’s bold work as Axis Williams. Their sessions showed how young creators are rewriting what Indian fantasy, art, and comics can look like.
Day 1’s sessions kept the crowd hopping between worlds Amar Chitra Katha spotlights, Radio Mirchi showcases, creator deep-dives like The Lost Gods and The Creatorverse, and a Community Spotlight featuring The Tier Wars. Music and comedy turned the evening into a full-fledged party: the Hope Beatbox Crew thumped out rhythms, Street Pulse ft. K!llSwitch turned up the volume, and Inder Sahani left fans laughing through punchlines.
Of course, no Comic Con is complete without its costume-clad icons, and Delhi’s cosplayers delivered. Wolverine, Loki, Zoro, Denji, Black Panther, Evangelion, a Ringwraith or two the grounds became a living storyboard of fandom favourites brought to life with painstaking craft.
Gaming zones ensured that controllers clicked as loudly as cameras. Competitive and casual gamers battled it out across VR setups, reflex challenges by Maruti Suzuki Arena, Crunchyroll’s anime-fuelled immersion zone, Android’s BGMI Panfest, the Lenovo Legion arena, and the Avatar: Fire & Ash Experience Zone. Kinderjoy even turned a corner into Gotham City, complete with kid-friendly heroics.
The joy was everywhere in sketchbooks, in queues, in the shared smiles of parents introducing their children to the comics they grew up with. “Delhi is where Comic Con India began more than a decade ago,” said Shefali Johnson, CEO of Comic Con India. “Seeing generations connect over the stories they love is what Comic Con truly stands for magic, storytelling, and shared experiences.”
If Day 1 was electric, Day 2 promises a power boost, a special Amar Chitra Katha showcase, a mind-bending performance by magician Karan Singh, and a high-voltage set by Nigerian-born rapper Yung Sammy, who’s rewriting India’s hip-hop landscape.
Delhi Comic Con is back louder, brighter, geekier and for fans, it’s nothing short of super.
Gaming
Dream Sports sees 100 plus exits after gaming ban forces overhaul
Company splits into eight units as real money gaming law hits revenue.
MUMBAI: For a company built on fantasy leagues, reality has suddenly rewritten the rulebook. More than 100 employees have exited Dream Sports, the parent of Dream11, after the company reorganised its operations following India’s ban on real money online gaming. The shake up came after the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 came into force in August 2025, prohibiting games where users deposit money expecting winnings. The regulation struck at the heart of the fantasy gaming industry and dramatically affected Dream Sports’ core business, wiping out about 95 percent of its revenue and all of its profits.
In response, the Mumbai based company shifted into what chief executive officer Harsh Jain described as “startup mode”, splitting its operations into eight independent business units in December.
Around 700 employees were reassigned across these newly formed ventures based on their experience and interests. However, roughly 15 percent opted to leave the company.
A spokesperson for Dream Sports said many of those who exited were experienced professionals accustomed to running scaled businesses rather than early stage ventures.
“Since some of these employees were experienced with running high scale businesses and not startups, around 15 percent chose to leave and join other scaled companies or start ventures of their own,” the spokesperson said.
Despite the departures, the company noted that the attrition rate is only slightly higher than its earlier level of around 10 percent before the ban. Dream Sports now has close to 950 employees and is not currently hiring, choosing instead to focus on stabilising its existing workforce.
The restructuring has transformed Dream Sports from a fantasy gaming company into a broader sports entertainment platform. The eight units now operate independently, each focusing on different segments of the sports and technology ecosystem.
These include Dream11, sports streaming platform Fancode, sports travel service DreamSetGo, mobile game Dream Cricket and artificial intelligence initiative Dream Sports AI, which includes sports analytics platform Dream Play.
Other ventures include fintech product Dream Money, open source initiative Dream Horizon and the philanthropic arm Dream Sports Foundation.
As part of cost saving efforts, Dream Sports also relocated its headquarters from Bandra Kurla Complex to Worli earlier this year. The new office, called Dream Sports Stadium, brings teams from its various brands together under one roof to improve collaboration and operational efficiency.
Jain had earlier said the company removed bonus lock in timelines for employees hired in recent years, allowing those who wished to leave to exit with pro rata payouts.
“We want people who are fully into the startup mode and willing to work for it, and we will share that reward if it comes,” he said.
Founded in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, Dream Sports was last valued at 8 billion dollars after raising 840 million dollars in 2021 from investors including Falcon Edge Capital, DST Global, D1 Capital Partners, RedBird Capital Partners, Tiger Global Management, TPG and Footpath Ventures.
The new gaming law has forced several companies in the fantasy gaming sector to either shut down or pivot their business models, signalling a significant reset for one of India’s fastest growing digital entertainment industries.
