Dream11's Jain: Talent Safe, Brand Trusted, Time to Pursue New Ideas

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Posted by AI on 2025-08-26 05:23:46 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-08-26 08:31:16

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Indian fantasy gaming leader Dream11's CEO Harsh Jain remains bullish on the company's future and ruled out any job cuts despite the company's key domain, real-money gaming (RMG), being banned amid mounting regulatory pressure on the nation's burgeoning gaming and esports sector.

Jain argues that with 260 million users and a strong brand reputation, the company is well-positioned to pursue new ideas and innovations, including exploring the non-gaming realm: "Everyone knows the talent and the brand is safe. All the talent is safe. Everybody's focusing on, 'Okay, what's the next big idea?'

"We have this massive audience which is engaged, which is core fantasy, and then we have this broader ecosystem of non-gaming experiences, which we can go and start exploring."

The comments come as Dream11, India's biggest gaming company, recently laid off approximately 80 employees, or roughly 5% of its workforce, from its gaming division, according to local reports. The company has denied these reports.

The Indian gaming industry is grappling with uncertainty and heightened scrutiny after the country's federal government imposed a nationwide ban on RMG in April last year.

Dream11, valued at around $7.2 billion, is reliant on fantasy cricket, a category deemed as skill-based gaming and therefore legal in most Indian states. However, the Karnataka state government decided to extend the national ban to all forms of fantasy sports in late March, posing another hurdle for the company.

Nevertheless, Jain remains optimistic about the industry's prospects in the country. "It's a massive opportunity. I think it's one of those industries where there's a startup mentality, and there's a lot of innovation required, and it's open to worldwide innovation."

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