Gaming
Riot Games announces India Closed Qualifiers for ‘Convergence’
Mumbai: ‘Convergence’ by Riot Games in partnership with The Esports Club, is all set to showcase India’s esports prowess as the company today announced its plans to host an India Closed Qualifiers into the upcoming tournament. Joining forces with Lenovo as the Title Sponsor for its first ever international VALORANT esports tournament in India, Riot Games is committed to promoting local teams in the tournament scheduled between 14 to 17 December, 2023 at the Manpho Convention Center in Bangalore.
The India Closed Qualifiers will witness Indian VALORANT teams earn a chance to compete with some of the best professional VALORANT teams from Riot’s International Leagues from across the Pacific, EMEA and Americas. Scheduled to begin on 30 November, the closed qualifiers will invite the top six professional VALORANT teams from India to battle it out and secure a spot in the main tournament. The six teams will follow a Double Elimination format to select the home team that will join the Convergence main event. The upper bracket and lower bracket finals, as well as a grand finale of the qualifiers will be streamed on The Esports Club’s YouTube Channel, starting from 29 November. All teams have secured their invitation to the qualifiers based on their performance in the Indian domestic season in 2023.
Riot Games esports lead India & South Asia Sukamal Pegu said, “We are super excited to announce that the India Closed Qualifiers gives top local teams a great platform to showcase skills and play against some of the best professional VALORANT teams in the world. The goal behind Convergence is to grow esports talent in India and the qualifiers are a testament to the hyperlocal opportunities we are creating for our VALORANT community in the region.”
“Lenovo India has been championing esports as a dedicated way to reach out to gaming audiences, and with VALORANT being a popular title that’s well enjoyed across India we have been engaging with the title during various online and offline events. With our portfolio of great gaming products on Legion and LOQ, we feel it’s a great way for Lenovo to be seen and experienced by relevant younger TG who we believe will be glad that we are able to bring a great esports event to India” said Lenovo India director – marketing Chandrika Jain.
The main Convergence event starting from 14 December will be broadcast live in English on Riot’s Pacific Channels and in Hindi on Riot’s South Asia channels. The Esports Club will also carry the broadcasts on their channels.
Bolstering the gaming culture in India, Riot Games has been actively involved in fostering community engagement and enhancing the player experience with multiple initiatives over the past year. Recently, Riot Games celebrated the one-year anniversary of VALORANT’s first ever Indian agent Harbor by conducting a beach clean-up with the Indian gaming community, and also commemorated the third anniversary of VALORANT in India with BHARAT VALORANT celebrations.
The gaming community can witness the live action of the upcoming Convergence tournament through free and paid ticket options. Stay tuned for further details on ticketing set to be revealed in the coming weeks.
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.
