Gaming
Lightfury hits it out of the park with e-cricket reveal at GDC 2025
MUMBAI: Lightfury Games is taking India’s gaming industry global, announcing its highly anticipated AAA title E-Cricket at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2025 in San Francisco. The teaser and demo, unveiled today, showcase a groundbreaking, high-fidelity cricket gaming experience built on Unreal Engine 5, with next-gen visuals and AI-powered mechanics.
Developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), E-Cricket leverages Amazon Gamelift Streams to bring console-quality gameplay to virtually any device with a browser with no high-end hardware required. Designed for both Esports athletes and cricket lovers, the game promises a competitive multiplayer ecosystem with live tournaments, immersive gameplay, and innovative mechanics that redefine the sport in a virtual arena.
“AWS is proud to support LightFury Games as they showcase their ground-breaking work on this new title at GDC,” said AWS head of immersive technologies Chris Lee. “Amazon GameLift Streams empowers studios like LightFury Games to deliver exceptional experiences without hardware limitations and unlocks new opportunities for game developers worldwide.”
“It’s an impactful opportunity for an Indian AAA game studio to showcase at GDC, marking an incredible milestone for the industry,” said Lightfury Games CPTO and co-founder Anurag Banerjee. “Amazon GameLift Streams is going to revolutionise mobile gaming in India – the world’s second-largest mobile market. By delivering high-fidelity visuals on mobile devices through any web browser (without app installations) and requiring only high-speed internet, this technology makes premium gaming more accessible and affordable. It reshapes the industry, unlocking bold new opportunities for gameplay, engagement, and monetisation, allowing us to take this game to the masses like never before,” he added.
“We have announced the release of a blockbuster AAA E-Cricket game made in India, for India and the world. We are fully committed to launching it in early 2026 and are moving full steam ahead. With the right combination of world-class tech, and global and Indian talent, we are confident of building India’s AAA gaming ecosystem, and positioning the country as a key player on the global Esports stage,” said Lightfury Games CEO and co-founder Karan Shroff.
With E-Cricket, LightFury Games is swinging for the fences, aiming to bring world-class gaming innovation to India and beyond.
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.
