Gaming
Esports athlete Scout invites students to join College Rivals competition in Delhi
Mumbai: Gaming truck ‘College Rivals’ was united with India’s vibrant esports community for an electrifying start as it embarked on its impressive journey from Delhi. Amidst the esports action more than 1000 gaming fans cheered and were thrilled to engage with iconic esports athlete and streamer, Scout who visited the city inviting college students to join the rivalry at Delhi Technological University.
Kickstarting its journey from IIIT-Delhi, the gaming truck will also visit other prestigious colleges in the city, such as Delhi Technological University, Galgotias University, Shiv Nadar University, and Amity University. It aims to cover 5,000 kilometers to reach gaming enthusiasts across the length and breadth of the country. The college rivals gaming truck is set to revolutionise the Indian esports ecosystem by engaging with students, facilitating player selections, and providing a wide range of immersive experiences, including intense esports, vibrant tournaments, influencer interactions, and live DJ music. ‘College Rivals’ is a groundbreaking new esports competition, that promises to be a festival of non-stop fun, and unlimited entertainment launched by Ampverse, Asia’s largest ecosystem of gaming communities and IPs, in a joint venture with DMI Finance.
Expressing his excitement, Tanmay Singh Athlete aka Scout, said “I feel honored and thrilled to invite students to be a part of College Rivals and take the gaming world by storm with this competitive esports tournament. College Rivals sets itself apart from the rest of the gaming ecosystem by providing thrilling career opportunities to esports enthusiasts across the country. College Rivals has truly set a new benchmark and is a testament to the rapid growth of the esports ecosystem in India. The tournaments are one of a kind and are sure to play a pivotal role in boosting a promising future for aspiring gamers and players.”
Colleg Rivals grand finale is scheduled for mid-September and will mark the conclusion of the Delhi leg following its journey to other cities such as Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, and Mumbai. The unique collegiate festival invites students and gamers from all across the country to join the competition and be prepared for an event that will truly unleash India’s gaming potential!
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.
