Gaming
Opera meets OP Drops as Red Bull Solo Legends storms Royal Opera House
MUMBAI: When chandeliers meet chicken dinners, you know Indian esports has levelled up. In a landmark cultural crossover, Red Bull Solo Legends will host its national finals at Mumbai’s Royal Opera House on 2 December, marking the first time ever that the 110-year-old heritage venue, India’s only surviving opera house will transform into an esports battleground.
The move is more than symbolic. It is a statement of how far Indian gaming has travelled from cramped cyber cafés and late-night scrims to a stage once inaugurated by King George V and graced by India’s greatest performers.
This year’s edition has been the tournament’s most ambitious yet, spanning multiple online and on-ground stages and drawing tens of thousands of solo BGMI hopefuls from all corners of the country. With its unforgiving solo-queue format, Red Bull Solo Legends celebrates instinct, grit and clutch decision-making no teams to rely on, no support to hide behind.
From this nationwide talent pool, 64 of India’s strongest solo players 32 qualifiers, 24 top-tier pros, and 8 Chaos Agents will compete across five matches to claim the title of India’s strongest solo BGMI player and an exclusive international Red Bull Racing experience.
The line-up reads like a greatest hits list of Indian BGMI talent, Jonathan Amaral (Jonathan Gaming), Tanishk Singh (Admino), Rudra B (Spower), Sahil Jakhar (Omega), Raghuraj Singh (Slug), Mohammed Owais Lakhani (Owais), Sohail Shaikh (Hector), Paridhi Gupta (Noob Pari) and many more.
Each brings a unique style, some aggressive, some clinical, some pure chaos. And for the first time, the ornate balconies and vintage chandeliers of the Royal Opera House will witness headshots, rotations, and last-circle madness.
Built between 1909 and 1915, restored meticulously after decades of closure, the Royal Opera House has played host to theatre greats, classical maestros and landmark film screenings. On 2 December 2025, it adds competitive gaming to its storied résumé.
The juxtaposition is electric: a marble-and-velvet relic of the performing arts welcoming India’s sharpest digital athletes. In a venue synonymous with discipline, mastery and performance, every clutch carry, every last-man-standing moment gains a strange emotional weight turning a BGMI victory into a piece of living cultural history.
Red Bull Solo Legends was designed to spotlight individual brilliance. Every rotation, every misstep, every miracle spray belongs solely to the player. Hosting the finals at the Royal Opera House elevates this philosophy where mastery on a touchscreen meets the heritage of mastery on stage.
Tickets go live exclusively on Swiggy Scenes starting 21 November.
Fans nationwide can tune in to the live broadcast on the Red Bull Game On Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@RedBullGameOn
When opera meets OP, legends are made and Mumbai is about to witness a performance unlike anything its century-old balconies have ever seen.
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.
