Gaming
Indian indie games get their big boss moment in global Steam sale spotlight
MUMBAI: Gamers, ready your wallets—and your wishlists. The great Indian gaming uprising has officially begun. No dragons to slay here (unless one’s coded in a pixel dungeon), but there’s fire nonetheless. Indie Game Utsav and Comic Con India have teamed together to drop the largest-ever sale of Indian-made and Indian-origin PC games on Steam. This is not a drill. It’s up to 80 per cent off, and it’s live.
The Comic Con X Indie Game Utsav Steam Sale kicked off on 10 April at 11 pm IST and will run until 20 April. But here’s the real power-up: from 18-20 April, this curated sale of over 110 desi games will grace Steam’s global front page—a first for Indian games. That’s like walking into a LAN party and finding you are the main event.
“This Steam Sale is our way of giving Indian games a wider audience,” said Nodding Heads Games co-founder & game director and Indie Game Utsav project director Avichal Singh. “I’m grateful for Nodwin’s and Valve’s support to surface Indian games to the world.”
And it’s not just online. Indie Game Utsav will make its on-ground debut at Mumbai Comic Con 2025 on 12–13 April at the Jio World Convention Centre. Over 40 high-quality indie titles will be showcased to thousands of fans at Maruti Suzuki Arena presents Mumbai Comic Con powered by Crunchyroll. Because who says you can’t cosplay and code?
The Utsav has major backing too—from Intel, Xbox, Xsolla, Specter, and Nodwin Gaming. The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) India joins as community partner, ensuring this isn’t just a flash in the digital pan.
NODWIN Gaming co-founder & MD Akshat Rathee didn’t mince words, “We’ve always believed that Indian indie game creators have something truly special to offer, and their games deserve to be in the hands of more players. This is just one step in a larger effort to support that ecosystem.”
Sale highlights include solo-developed sleeper hits like Bao Bao’s Cozy Laundromat, the cult-favourite episodic series Fears to Fathom, strategy-heavy Kurukshetra, the acclaimed Raji: An Ancient Epic, slice-of-life gem The Palace on the Hill, and horror surprise Kamla. These titles are more than just games—they’re passion projects from local devs putting India on the global map, one pixel at a time.
And it’s not just the usual suspects. Upcoming games like Abashed, Appa, Cosmic Race Galactic Showdown, Detective Dotson, Fishbowl, Frontier Paladin, Mukti, Sojourn Past, and Spook-A-Boo are also elbowing their way onto international wishlists.
You can browse the full lineup at Steam’s event page or dive into the complete catalogue via this spreadsheet. Don’t forget to wishlist your favourites – every click counts.
For now, India’s indie developers are levelling up hard. From chai-sipping code sprints to standing proud on Steam’s global stage, it’s a journey worth celebrating. And judging by the excitement, it’s only the beginning of a glorious, glitch-free era.
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.
