Gaming
India’s DOTA 2 team eyes success at Asian Games 2022
Mumbai: India’s premier DOTA 2 team is gearing up to recreate their stunning success at the Commonwealth Esports Championships as they take on Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines in their opening group stage games of the Asian Games 2022 at the China Hangzhou Esports Centre on 29 September.
Led by skipper Darshan Bata (A35), the skilled DOTA 2 unit comprising Krish Gupta (Krish-), Abhishek Yadav (Abhi-), Ketan Goyal (Evil-Ash), and Shubham Goli (Madness) has been drawn into Group A, where they are scheduled to compete against Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines in Best-of-One (BO1) single round-robin format matches. The top-ranked team from this group will advance to face Nepal in the quarter-finals on 30 September.
All matches in the elimination stage for DOTA 2 will be contested in the head-to-head, Best-of-Three (BO3) single elimination format. There will be a total of 14 notable teams participating in the title.
“As the captain of the team, I feel an immense sense of responsibility and pride in leading the country’s first-ever DOTA 2 team at the Asian Games. The entire team has been practicing constantly in the build-up to the tournament as all of us understand the honor of representing India at such a prestigious competition. With the constant support of ESFI throughout our journey, we are ready to give our all and make the country proud by bringing home a medal,” said DOTA 2 team captain Darshan Bata.
The squad sealed their qualification for the Asian Games 2022, by prevailing in the finals of the National Esports Championships (NESC) organized by Esports Federation of India (ESFI) last year. The team’s experienced players Ketan, Abhishek, and Shubham were part of the iconic squad that scripted history by clinching the bronze medal at last year’s inaugural Commonwealth Esports Championships in Birmingham.
Sharing his thoughts on the talented team participating in the tournament, Esports Federation of India director & Asian Esports Federation (AESF) vice president Lokesh Suji expressed, “At ESFI, we have witnessed the incredible growth of Esports in India and the extraordinary talent that has emerged from our nation. This DOTA 2 team consists of some of the finest players in the country who have already proved their mettle at the Commonwealth Esports Championships last year. We are confident that they will perform at a similar level in Hangzhou and bring laurels for the country.”
One of the country’s top sports and Esports communication agencies, Artsmith-Concepts & Visions, will continue its support to the Esports Federation of India as its official communication partner.
On Sunday, India’s Charanjot Singh and Karman Tikka bowed out of the Asian Games 2022 after suffering hard-fought defeats in EA Sports FC Online.
Charanjot suffered a 0:2 defeat to China’s Liu Jiacheng in his opening game but bounced back strongly with three consecutive wins. He won by 2:0 against Aristorenas Jorrel of Philippines, 2-1 against Alrowaihi RKM of Bahrain, and 2-0 against Yessentayev Olzhas of Kazakhstan in the Losers Bracket Round 1, 2, and 3 respectively.
However, his campaign came to an end after enduring another 0-2 defeat against Liu Jiacheng of China in the Losers Bracket Round 4. The 20-year-old finished in the Top 16.
On the other hand, Karman Singh went down fighting in a 1-2 loss against Faqeehi Abdulaziz Abdullatif of Bahrain in his tournament opener. Similar to Charanjot, he too made a strong comeback by defeating Kiswani Abdelrahman of Palestine by 2-1 in the Losers Bracket Round 1 before going down by 1-2 against Aldhafiri Meshari of Kuwait in the Losers Bracket Round 2 to exit the competition.
On Tuesday, two of the country’s most distinguished Street Fighter V: Champion Edition athletes, Mayank Prajapati (MiKeYROG) and Ayan Biswas (AYAN01) will embark on their pursuit for a medal from the Round of 32 stage. Mayank will go head to head against T.F. Rajikhan of Saudi Arabia while his teammate, Ayan Biswas, will be up against K.H.C Nguyen of Vietnam.
Following the Street Fighter V: Champion Edition fixtures, the nation’s star-studded League of Legends which has been seeded directly to the quarter-finals will begin its campaign on 27 September. As a result of dominating the recently held Central and South Asia seeding event and clinching top seed, the team has gained direct entry into the top-8 of the tournament and will face Vietnam in its tournament opener.
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.
