Is Dream11’s fantasy platform hitting a wall? That’s the indication from the company’s move into WinZO and MPL (M-League) territory with the launch of the Dream Play app.

Launched in May 2025, Dream Play brings games such as carrom, pool and potentially others such as archery, ludo and more that have become monetisable, as evidenced by WinZO and M-League. Both these major rivals — along with others — have become household names in the casual gaming space, but so is Dream 11.

So this new entry is once again heating up the Indian gaming sector. Could there be a spring in the offing for funding in gaming startups? Let’s find out.

We’ll look at how Dream11 has been compelled to break away from its core focus thus far, and whether this has anything to do with the company’s adjustments in light of the potential GST demands from real money gaming companies which is expected to severely hit Dream11.

But first, a look at the top stories from our newsroom this week:

• Builder.ai’s House Of Cards: Once an AI unicorn, Builder.ai is on the verge of dissolution amid allegations of faking its AI tech and revenue inflation to the tune of $300 Mn. Here’s how the fall happened and the lessons from the collapse of Builder.ai
• The Ride-Hailing U-Turn: Platforms like Rapido and Namma Yatri have popularised zero-commission, subscription-based models, forcing Ola and Uber to adopt similar approaches amid growing driver unrest. What does this mean for the ride-hailing industry?
• BigBasket’s Trump Cards: The INR 4,000 Cr revenue from private labels for BigBasket far surpasses anything that Zepto has generated through Relish and Daily Good, for instance, and is quickly becoming the Tata-owned platform’s massive moat

Dream11’s Busy Season

It’s been a busy 2025 for Dream11 which has launched several new products in the past few months and made key changes. And sandwiched between these critical developments was the peak fantasy gaming season of the IPL.

The Dream Play launch comes a few months after Dream11’s parent company redomiciled to India. The real money gaming major said the reverse flip was critical for the company to “achieve cost savings from more focused operational efforts, lead to consolidation of the group and elimination of inter-company transactions”.

Dream Sports, the parent company, has thus far primarily catered to cricket fans with its sports tourism, fantasy gaming, sports streaming, and........

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