MPL layoffs after gaming ban: Won’t be making any money in India anymore, CEO tells staff

The Indian government’s online gaming ban has wiped out Mobile Premier League’s business in its home country, CEO Sai Srinivas said while announcing layoffs in his company.

Mobile Premier League (MPL) CEO Sai Srinivas.(Livemint)

“With a heavy heart, we have decided that we will be downsizing our India Team significantly,” Srinivas wrote in an internal email sent on Sunday, without quantifying the MPL layoffs. Reuters has reported the layoff scale to be 60% of the staff.

His email, seen by the news agency, read: “We are committed to providing those impacted with every possible support during this transition period…”

“India accounted for 50% of M-League’s revenues and this change [India’s online gaming ban] would mean that we would no longer be making any revenue from India in the near future.”

MPL layoffs: About 300 to be let go

About 300 out of 500 India staff in divisions like marketing, finance, operations, engineering and legal, will be let go by the Bengaluru-based company, Reuters reported on Sunday citing a company person aware of the matter.

The company is now focusing on free-to-play games and its US business as part of a major downsizing exercise after India’s online money gaming ban.

Backed by Peak XV Partners, MPL was valued at $2.3 billion in 2021, according to Pitchbook data cited by Reuters. The person cited earlier said MPL’s India revenue stood at roughly $100 million in 2024-25.

Online gaming ban effect

India earlier this month banned paid online games, citing financial and addiction risks among the youth, leading to a shutdown of many gaming apps offering fantasy cricket, rummy and poker games.

The law shocked the industry that was set to be worth $3.6 billion by 2029.

As for MPL rival Dream11, which has relinquished its sponsorship of India Cricket Team and stopped all money-based fantasy games since the law came into effect, it will not resort to layoffs, according to CEO Harsh Jain.

“We are not interested in doing any layoffs. All the talent here is safe,” Jain said in an interview with Moneycontrol on August 25, “We are interested in building with this talent to dig ourselves out of this hole. The only way to deal with 95% of your revenue gone is to build new products that you can monetise in the future. That will always start with talent.”

On August 24, PTI had reported that Dream11’s parent company Dream Sports is working on a money management app called Dream Money to help people invest in gold, fixed deposits and mutual funds.

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