Gaming
Gamingcon Bharat 2025 set to level up India’s gaming scene
MUMBAI: India’s gaming revolution is about to hit a new high score. The Indian Game Publishers and Developers Association (IGPDA) has announced Gamingcon Bharat 2025, taking place at the NESCO Bombay exhibition centre on 29–30 November. Billed as India’s largest gaming festival and industry conference, the event promises to unite gamers, developers, publishers, investors, and policymakers under one roof.
With over 10,000 attendees expected, Gamingcon Bharat will feature epic esports showdowns including FAU-G: Domination, Indus Battle Royale, BGMI, and Valorant, alongside the Indieverse Showcase highlighting Made-in-India IPs such as Mukti, Age of Bhaarat, and Ludo King. Fans can also catch the Cosplay Grand Finale, explore 100 plus tech and gaming brands in the Expo zone, and enjoy eight action-packed fan zones and stages.
For creators and industry leaders, the IGPDA India Gaming Conference will run alongside, offering insights on AI, cloud gaming, global IPs, and policy frameworks. Senior government officials and policymakers will engage directly with the gaming ecosystem.
Nazara Technologies CEO Nitesh Mittersain said, “For the first time, India has a platform of this magnitude to showcase its own IPs to the world. Gamingcon Bharat is the launchpad for India’s next gaming success stories.”
Tara Gaming co-founder and best-selling author Amish Tripathi added, “Video gaming is the biggest creative industry, and it’s about time India had a rallying point for gamers and the industry to call its own. Gamingcon Bharat 2025 is that rallying point.”
Gametion CEO Vikash Jaiswal summed it up, “For culturally-rich Indian games to succeed globally, they first need to succeed at home. Gamingcon Bharat 2025 is the home for Indian gaming. The world has Gamescom, we have Gamingcon.”
From indie developers to global investors, Gamingcon Bharat 2025 aims to level up India’s gaming industry, creating a home-grown stage where local talent can shine globally.
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.
