Gaming
Reliance teams up with Blast to storm India’s booming esports arena
MUMBAI: Reliance Industries’ wholly-owned subsidiary Rise Worldwide has joined forces with European esports powerhouse Blast to form a joint venture that aims to revolutionise India’s nascent but rapidly expanding competitive gaming landscape.
The partnership will leverage Blast’s tournament expertise and publisher relationships to bring global esports properties to Indian shores while developing bespoke competitions for the local market—a digital playground that already boasts a staggering 600 million gamers, representing 18 per cent of the world’s button-bashers.
India’s gaming market, currently valued at $3.8bn, is projected to rocket to $9.2bn by 2029, growing at a blistering 19 per cent annually. Meanwhile, the global esports market is expected to surge from $2.8bn to $16.7bn by 2033, suggesting there are digital gold mines yet to be excavated.
“India is one of the most exciting and fastest-growing gaming markets in the world,” said Blast chief executive Robbie Douek, whose company currently works with gaming titans including Epic Games, Valve, Riot Games, Krafton and Ubisoft across popular titles with a combined monthly player base exceeding 350 million.
The new venture will capitalise on Blast’s production prowess and intellectual property portfolio while tapping into Jio’s technological muscle and distribution network via the JioGames platform. Services will span tournament management, targeted marketing, production and broadcasting—essentially creating a full-service esports juggernaut.
“With this partnership, Indian esports will be able to realise its full potential,” said Reliance Sports head Devang Bhimjyani.
The timing appears impeccable, as the Indian government recently granted official recognition to esports by declaring it part of the “multi-sports event” category, providing legitimacy to a pursuit once dismissed as mere child’s play.
Blast, known for producing tournaments that fill arenas and generate billions of views across 150+ territories, will now bring its show-stopping production values to a country where cricket has traditionally dominated sporting consciousness. With planned arena stops in global cities like London, Singapore, Austin and Rio in 2025, the addition of Indian venues seems a natural next step in the company’s expansion strategy.
For India’s growing army of competitive gamers, the partnership offers tantalising prospects: international exposure, improved tournament infrastructure, and potentially, a shot at the multi-million dollar prize pools that have transformed gaming nerds into millionaire celebrities elsewhere in the world.
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.
