Gaming
XR Sports Alliance attracts new members
MUMBAI: The XR Sports Alliance (XRSA) is beginning to gather momentum. Founded by video streaming solutions company Accedo together with wireless tech company Qualcomm Technologies and sports host broadcaster HBS, in June 2024, it has announced its first batch of members. These include: sports rights owner E1 Series; telecom operator Deutsche Telekom; AR glasses and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) XReal and and technology service providers, Ateme, Skyrim.ai.
The new members will be contributing to the XRSA, which aims to accelerate knowledge gathering, technological advancement and time-to-market for XR sports services, as well as gather and share industry knowledge across the globe.
Said Accedo CEO Michael Lantz: “The XRSA was born from a shared vision. Our ambition is to build a powerful collective of passionate leaders and experts from both the sports and XR industries, all committed to advancing the commercialisation of XR sports services. Every member is important for how we shape our end-to-end experimentation framework and how we lay the foundation for scalable technology and sustainable XR business models.”
Qualcomm Technologies senior director business development Patrick Costello added: “Through the XRSA user testing framework, we will gather valuable data from global deployments and share these lessons learned reports with our members, ensuring insights are drawn from diverse audiences to inform future developments.”
HBS digital head Sylvain Lebreton commented: “The planned experimentation deployments in early 2025 will involve extensive experimentation with both non-live and live spatial video formats and evaluating user interaction with various immersive fan features and spatial advertising. We will continue to grow the membership over the coming months and welcome interest from companies across the ecosystem, both those wishing to serve as contributing members, as well as observing members.”
Accedo, HBS, and Qualcomm Technologies, will be at CES 2025 from 7-11 January 2025.
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.
