Zupee has laid off round 200 staff in its second spherical of job cuts in lower than six months, because the Indian on-line gaming startup continues to restructure its enterprise following a nationwide ban on real-money gaming.
The newest reductions, introduced on Friday, have an effect on a number of groups and kind a part of what the corporate described as a restricted organisational realignment to adapt to the evolving regulatory and market setting.
In September, Zupee had lower about 170 roles — roughly 30% of its workforce — shortly after Parliament authorized laws prohibiting all real-money gaming platforms.
Zupee mentioned affected staff will obtain monetary assist past contractual discover intervals, continued medical health insurance protection for its full time period and entry to a Rs 1 crore medical assist fund. The corporate additionally mentioned impacted employees might be given precedence for rehiring as new roles open up.
The layoffs comply with the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of On-line Gaming Act, 2025, which imposed a blanket ban on real-money gaming whereas permitting esports and informal social video games to proceed. The laws ended years of regulatory uncertainty over whether or not such video games constituted ability or likelihood, forcing corporations to close down paid choices or pivot their enterprise fashions.
Zupee was among the many first main platforms to substantiate compliance with the regulation, saying in August that it will discontinue all paid video games whereas persevering with free-to-play titles comparable to Ludo Supreme, Ludo Turbo and Snakes & Ladders. Since then, the corporate has mentioned it’s specializing in increasing its free gaming portfolio and has entered short-form video content material by Zupee Studio.
Rival WinZO has additionally expanded into short-form video by the launch of Zo TV, a platform centered on micro-dramas, as its founders deal with regulatory scrutiny from India’s Enforcement Directorate over allegations of unfair gaming practices, which the corporate has beforehand disputed.
The regulatory clampdown has triggered widespread disruption throughout India’s on-line gaming trade. Dream Sports activities halted real-money gaming at Dream11, whereas corporations together with Gameskraft, Cellular Premier League and Probo have shut down their money-based video games. A number of companies, comparable to Games24X7, Head Digital Works and Baazi Video games, have additionally reported workforce reductions.
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