Gaming
Nazara Technologies notches up good financial scores in Q4
Mumbai: If you are a gamer, you will know that at times, it looks like you are lagging far behind, with most of your shooters gone. But things turn around and you start scoring, knocking out the rival’s gunmen, and you come out on top. Just like recently, the publicly listed Nazara Technologies has done. The Indian gaming and esports major has reported operating revenue of Rs 123.38 crore in q4, 41.7 per cent higher than the previous year’s corresponding quarter.
The company has erased all the red ink on its earnings report by notching up growth of 84 per cent year-on-year in profit to reach Rs 4.2 crore, as against a loss of Rs 7 crore (q4 last year).
“As we operate in the high growth business segments of gamified early learning, esports, and freemium, we continue to prioritise growth over profit maximisation, to achieve and maintain market leadership in the segments we operate in,” said an excited Nazara Technologies group chief executive officer Manish Agarwal.
The esports segment revenue ballooned to Rs 48.57 crore from Rs 39.77 crore in the same quarter last year. Gamified early learning nearly trebled to reach Rs 50.61 crore, compared to Rs 19.52 crore. However, revenue for the freemium segment declined to Rs 4.32 crore from Rs 4.03 crore. Telco subscription also marginally declined to Rs 17.83 crore from Rs 18.08 crore for the corresponding period in the last fiscal.
“Prudent financial management is in our DNA. This is clearly visible from the Rs 4,784 million (Rs 478.4 crore) in cash reserves, including liquid investments, as well as the zero debt on our balance sheet. We will efficiently utilise our cash balance to fund any inorganic growth opportunities- ranging from building capabilities to geographic and demographic expansions in our operational domain. To conclude, we are in a good position to continue executing our strategy and maintain our market leadership position in the years to come,” Agarwal added.
For the financial year 2020-2021, operating revenue grew 84 per cent year-on-year to Rs 454.2 crore. While EBITDA has gone up by 508 per cent year-on-year to Rs 59.6 crore, EBITDA margins have also improved from 3.7 per cent in FY2019-2020 to 12.7 per cent. It has delivered profits of Rs 13.6 crore in the just-ended fiscal year.
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.
