Real-money gaming corporations again to sq. one

India’s Real-Money Gaming (RMG) business is present process a pressured reset, Radhika P Nair experiences for Mint.

India’s RMG business, as soon as valued at roughly $6 billion, has been in freefall for the reason that authorities handed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, outlawing entry-fee-based codecs with money rewards. Before the ban, RMG contributed virtually 71% of complete income as per consulting agency Redseer.

Six months on from the ban, many RMG corporations have shut down, others face enforcement actions, and survivors are rebuilding from scratch, the report says.

The monetisation hole is stark. RMG’s paying-user conversion price stood at round 15%, in comparison with simply 0.5% for in-app buy fashions, in response to Nazara Technologies MD Nitish Mittersain.

Dream Sports CEO Harsh Jain, whose firm derived 95% of its income and 100% of its income from Dream11 alone, is now working what he calls “a portfolio of startups,” spanning a reside sports activities watch-along platform, stockbroking and AI-led wealth administration.

Meanwhile, PokerBaazi has pivoted to informal gaming on a subscription mannequin priced at roughly ₹400 a month, after shedding round 270 workers.

Zupee is casting a wider internet, experimenting with microdramas, astrology, and free-to-play video games, although internally the path stays unsure. Nazara, which acquired a 47.7% stake in PokerBaazi’s guardian for ₹832 crore in September 2024, was pressured to put in writing it down after the ban, posting a internet lack of over ₹900 crore in a single quarter.

The price constructions that after sustained these companies are additionally being dismantled. Dream11’s advertising and marketing spend alone crossed ₹3,900 crore in 2024-25, as per firm information, whereas PokerBaazi’s exceeded ₹460 crore. Those days at the moment are over, the report says additional.

Dream Sports has in the reduction of on advertising and marketing, promoting, consulting and even workplace area, lowering rental prices by roughly 30%. Retaining expertise by means of the uncertainty has turn out to be a parallel battle, the report says.

But, the deeper concern is structural.

“Real-money gaming masked the lack of original Indian IP and deep game-making capability. The ecosystem became overly dependent on incentives and payouts rather than storytelling, design quality, and gameplay,” says Indiagames founder Vishal Gondal, who’s at the moment co-chair of the Indian Game Publishers and Developers Association. Building real engagement with out cash because the hook is a functionality most corporations by no means needed to develop, he provides.

A Supreme Court tax dispute, the place retrospective GST liabilities may expose the business to an estimated ₹2.5 trillion in claims, provides additional existential strain. A beneficial verdict may ease the overhang, however tougher questions stay, provides the report.

How can these gaming corporations rethink their income fashions? Share your ideas within the feedback part.

✍: Nakul Ghai
📷: Getty Images

Source: Mint:

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