Editor’s Note:

As we bid adieu to 2025, for the next few weeks, The Outline by Inc42 will look back at the hits and misses of India’s top tech startups and trends this year. Here’s the first special edition as part of our 2025 In Review series.

“It’s a big score to chase in the second innings, but our team has padded up and is ready to take the field,” said Harsh Jain, CEO and cofounder of Dream11, earlier this December.

The metaphor was deliberate. Jain was referring to Dream11’s most consequential pivot yet: transforming India’s largest fantasy sports platform into a second -screen sports entertainment product. Long synonymous with fantasy cricket, Dream11 now wants to sit alongside the live broadcast, offering creator-led watchalongs, real-time fan reactions, banter, and free-to-play fantasy formats that, according to the company, can deepen engagement and enhance viewership.

This reinvention did not come by choice. It followed the Indian government’s decision to impose a blanket ban on real money online gaming effective October 1, 2025, citing user protection and money laundering risks. For an ecosystem defining company like Dream11, the fallout was immediate, and its response closely watched.

Yet the pivot to a second-screen platform is only the latest chapter in what has been one of the most turbulent years in Dream11’s nearly 18-year journey. To understand how the year truly unfolded, it is essential to step back and connect the dots between regulatory pressure, diversification attempts, cost recalibration, and an all-in strategic reset.

In short, here’s what defined 2025 for Dream 11:

• Redomiciled to India
• Government ban on online money gaming
• Pulled back from Indian cricket title sponsorship
• Forayed into casual gaming
• Pivoted to a second-screen sports entertainment platform

Each of these moves was interconnected, reflecting both defensive measures and longer term strategic intent.

Expensive Bets Gone Wrong

From the outside, it may appear that Dream11’s leadership scrambled after the August ban. In reality, diversification had been brewing well before the ban was formally announced.

Since the beginning of the year, Jain and his senior leadership had been actively seeking avenues to reduce the company’s near total dependence on fantasy cricket, a product that not only drove the bulk of revenue and also concentrated regulatory and tax risk. Internal discussions around new formats, products, and monetisation levers began gaining urgency as GST scrutiny on online gaming intensified.

The context is critical. Dream Sports, the parent entity has reportedly been facing GST demands north of INR 28,000 Cr.........

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