Gaming
dentsu’s GEM awards: Gaming, e-sports and metaverse shine all the way through
Mumbai: In a star-studded event held at The Lalit, Mumbai, on 2 December, dentsu Gaming in partnership with Animation Xpress launched The Gem Awards to honour excellence throughout the gaming, e-sports, and metaverse industries. These awards are to celebrate the talents that influence and advance the medium and culture of gaming and technology. In addition to games and e-sports, the GEM Awards will also recognise the individuals and organisations that changed digital culture and had a positive social impact through the invention of ground-breaking Web3 applications, NFTs, and metaverses.
For the first edition of The Gem Awards, the jury members included an interesting mix from the e-sports, gaming, and digital industry – Indiantelevison.com Group founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil NM Wanvari, Penta E-Sports founder & CEO Anurag Khurana, Guardian Link co-founder & chief technology officer Arjun Reddy, Punnaryug Artvision founder & AVGC Forum – FICCI chairman Ashish Kulkarni, Holy Cow Productions founder & director Goutham Dindukurthi, SuperGaming communications manager and writer Rishi Alwani and Sharmilee Daru PR and 4WD Gaming founder Sharmilee Daru.
Gaurav Gambhir aka D-Cypher of Gully Boy fame also performed magnificently at the event. We all know him as the beatboxer in Gully Boy’s ‘Asli Hip Hop’ and ‘ Jingostan Beatbox’; he is a well-recognised name in the underground hip-hop community, a celebrity beatbox trainer and a part of Mumbai-based hip hop collective, Bombay Lokal.
In the category of gaming genres, which had four sub-categories, the best casual game was put in place by Playbae called In My Shadow; the best hyper casual game was prepared by Weloadin Studio for Dessert DIY; the best midcore game was awarded to Zatun for its project Down and Out; and the award for the best hardcore game was given to Voidpeak Games Pvt. Ltd.
The technical category had four sub-categories. The best gaming promo was prepared by Wayu Digital Studio for its project Mukti, and by GameEon Studios for its task on Mumbai Gullies; the best game direction was done by Lucid Labs for Possessions; the best art direction was executed by Xigma Games for The Bonfire 2 Uncharted Shores; and the best score/music was put in place by AbracaDabra Software Solutions for Tanhaji – The Maratha Warrior, and Frostwood Interactive for Forgotten Fields.
The special awards category had several sub-categories. The gaming studio of the year was XSQUADS Tech Private Limited; the best gaming institutes were ICAT and Chitkari; the best male gaming content creator of the year (jury base) was Mortal; the best female gaming content creators of the year (jury base) were Savage Girl and Payal Dhare (Payal Gaming); the best male gaming content creator of the year (fan base) was Scout; the best female gaming content creator of the year (fan base) was Kaash Plays; the upcoming game of the year (Indie) was by Ogre Head Studio for Yodha; the best Indie gaming studio of the year was Xigma Games; the best brand integration was executed by Creative Galileo for Creative Galileo Kids Early Learning App; the best brand game collaboration was by Reliance Games (Zapak Games) for Little Singham Tide Turners Plastic Challenge; the best use of gamification by brand in a campaign was done by Creative Galileo for Creative Galileo Kids Early Learning App; the best e-sports brand collaboration was by 7Sea Esports for Gillette X 7Sea Invitational.
The popular e-sports title (PC) was awarded to Riot Games; the popular e-sports title (mobile) was The Pokémon Company. The best influencer agencies were 8Bit Creatives and Trinity Gaming India.
The powering the ecosystem: special mention awards category had various sub-categories. The best movers & shakers investors: (early stage) were Jet Synthesys; the best movers & shakers investors (late stage) were Lumikai; the best gaming ambassador of the year was Jonathan “Jonathan” Amaral for Gillette Get Your Game Face On; the best mover & shaker government entities was the Telangana government; the best movers & shakers gaming were Gameberry Labs.
The e-sports category, too, had numerous sub-categories. The best players include Harsh “Goblin” Paudwal (SouLGobLiN) and Ganesh “SkRossi” Gangadhar. The best teams include Global Esports. The best production was executed by NODWIN Gaming for Battlegrounds Mobile India Master Series 2022. The best tournaments were put in place by 7Sea Esports for Gillette 7Sea Invitational, and Skyesports for Skyesports Champions Series. The best broadcast platform was LOCO. The best coach was Rahul ‘Osmium’ Sharma for 7Sea Esports. The best organiser was Skyesports. The best shoutcasters were MambaSR and Spero-Piyush. The best commercial was NODWIN Gaming for Battlegrounds Mobile India Master Series 2022. The best indigenous sports game of the year was put in place by Nautilus Mobile for Real Cricket.
The Meta Awards category had six sub-categories. The best debut in the metaverse was by Immersive Gamitronics Studios Pvt Ltd for Partynite – India का अपना Metaverse. The best avatar design was put in place by Metapolis for M-Genesis. The best innovative NFT project was by STAN for Esports Athletes & Gaming Creators. The best metaverse project was by Immersive Gamitronics Studios Pvt Ltd for Partynite – India का अपना Metaverse. The best blockchain-based game was made by SuperGaming for Tower Conquest (web3 game) and was also awarded to the game – Born To Die. The best web3 start-up was Indi.gg.
The coveted partners for this event, which was initiated by AnimationExpress.com and executed by ITV2.0 Productions, were dentsu Gaming (the event’s presenting partner), Rockstar Games (an associate partner), Metapolis (a technology partner), Zapak and Reliance Games (industry partners), and BenQ (a support partner).
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
