Gaming
Nazara Publishing announces FAU-G: Domination playtest at IGDC 2024
Mumbai: Fearless and United Guards (FAU-G): Domination, the made-in-India mobile game developed by Dot9 Games and published by Nazara Publishing will be open for playtest at the upcoming India Game Developer Conference (IGDC) 2024 from 13 to 15 November in Hyderabad.
IGDC is India’s oldest and biggest game developer conference and this year’s edition will feature over 150 sessions, more than 250 speakers, and 5,000 attendees.
Attendees can check out the first-person shooter (FPS) team deathmatch game at the Nazara booth and provide feedback to help shape the latest entry in the FAU-G universe, whose past games have achieved over 40 million downloads.
Building on community feedback from the last playtest in October 2024, FAU-G: Domination will feature the following exciting updates that IGDC attendees will get to experience firsthand:
1. Two new game modes: Kiss of Death and 1v1
2. Improved visuals
3. Revamped sound
4. New death cam
5. Voice chat
6. Refined character and weapon models with improved textures and optimisation
7. New charms and skins
8. Tweaks to weapon balance for competitive gameplay
9. Improved kill and damage animations
Players who try FAU-G: Domination will receive limited edition fan kits as a token of appreciation for their feedback. Dot9’s development team is committed to transparency and improving the game with community input.
With over 500 million players in India’s shooter market, pre-launch playtests are crucial for made-in-India games like FAU-G: Domination to succeed in a competitive environment. Pre-registrations are now live on the Google Play Store for Android, with the App Store for iOS and iPadOS to follow soon. Pre-registering grants players the exclusive Beast Collection, inspired by the Tiger, India’s national animal.
The Beast Collection includes six in-game accessories: frame, banner, avatar, sticker, spray, and charm, as well as six gun skins: sawed-off shotgun, USP, Scout rifle, M4, Uzi, and Kabar. This collection is only available to players who pre-register and won’t be offered after launch.
Pre-register for FAU-G: Domination can be done here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dotnine.faug&pli=1
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.
