iWorld
Thug Invitational Season 6: India’s top gamers compete for Rs 2,00,000 prize pool
Mumbai: Thug Invitational Season 6, the country’s foremost Road To Valor tournament with a whopping prize pool of Rs 2,00,000 is all set to kick off today. The distinguished tournament which is sponsored by Monster Energy and powered by UniPin India will feature 32 of the country’s leading gaming streamers and content creators going head-to-head against each other from 10-12 May.
The Thug Invitational is a high-profile Esports tournaments series spearheaded by Animesh Agarwal (popularly known as 8Bit Thug) that has been making waves in the Indian gaming industry, featuring prominent teams competing in multiple titles over the years. The upcoming sixth edition of the renowned tournament is set to feature the exciting multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game Road To Valor.
Thug Invitational Season 6 tournament is set to feature an exciting format spanning over three days, including five rounds of intense gameplay from notable male and female gamers including Scout, Mavi, KaashPlays, 8Bit Goldy, KrutikaPlays, 8Bit Beg4mercy, S8UL Regaltos, PayalGaming, 8Bit Mafia and many more. The tournament will kick off with a best-of-seven format for the first round, followed by the Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and grand finals, which will all be played in a best-of-11 format.
While this season’s champion will be awarded a grand prize of Rs 2,00,000, the second and third-placed players will be awarded 1,00,000 and 50,000 gems, respectively. These gems can be utilized by the players in-game to access exclusive benefits.
“The highly anticipated sixth season of the Thug Invitational is here now, and we cannot wait to see the best gaming talents from across the country converge on a single platform to showcase their skills. In a bid to create an event that truly showcases the very best of what gaming has to offer, we have invited 32 of India’s biggest streamers with a cumulative subscriber base of over 1 billion and raised the bar for Esports tournaments in the country. We’re thrilled to bring this unforgettable experience to the entire gaming community after a long wait of almost a year and we have been working hard to ensure that it leaves a lasting impression on fans,” said 8Bit Creatives founder and CEO Animesh Agarwal.
Since its launch in March of this year, Road To Valor has already become one of the most favoured games within the Indian gaming community, and it has played a significant role in propelling the industry’s growth. Its inclusion in Thug Invitational Season 6 is anticipated to have a considerable influence on the gaming ecosystem in the country by sparking even greater interest, engagement, and enthusiasm for the game among fans and enthusiasts alike.
“With the Esports community of the country branching out to different Esports titles across all platforms, we are excited to include Road to Valor for Thug Invitational Season 6 as we believe it will elevate this year’s tournament to greater heights of excitement. We eagerly await the tournament’s commencement and are looking forward to witness its top-notch action that keeps viewers on the edge of their seat,” added Agarwal.
According to the recent ‘Windows of Opportunity’ report by FICCI-EY, the prize money for Esports competitions in India is expected to rise from Rs 150 million in 2022 to Rs 300 million in 2023. Moreover, the airtime across all competitive level games in India is estimated to grow from 4,500 broadcast hours and 2000 peak concurrent viewers in 2022 to 6,000 broadcast hours and 3000 peak concurrent viewers in 2023.
With its massive prize pool and remarkable hype within the gaming industry, Thug Invitational Season 6 is a testament to the meteoric rise of large-scale Esports tournaments in the country.
The thrilling action from the tournament will be streamed live on 8Bit Thug’s Glance Gaming and Youtube channels.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
