With 120 job cuts, Gameskraft joins industry-wide retrenchment post-ban

Gameskraft, one of India’s most prominent real-money gaming companies, is laying off around 120 employees in a sweeping restructuring move triggered by both regulatory headwinds and a financial scandal at the top.

The job cuts, first reported by Moneycontrol, come weeks after Parliament enforced a blanket ban on real-money online games and days after an FIR was lodged against the company’s former chief financial officer, Ramesh Prabhu. He is accused of diverting more than ₹270 crore of company funds over nearly five years.

Fraud scandal deepens crisis

The FIR, filed at Bengaluru’s Marathahalli police station on Gameskraft’s complaint, alleges that Prabhu siphoned company funds into futures and options trades, incurring losses of about ₹250 crore. The alleged misappropriation, carried out between 2019 and 2024, was uncovered during the company’s internal audit.

Prabhu resigned in May 2024, but Gameskraft only disclosed the scale of the fraud this year, citing unauthorised transactions worth ₹231 crore in its FY25 accounts. The company said the incident was a one-off and has pledged to strengthen its financial oversight.

The scandal has intensified scrutiny on Gameskraft, already under pressure from new legislation outlawing money-based online games, where users deposit funds in the hope of winning cash rewards.

Layoffs across functions

Founder Prithvi Singh acknowledged the scale of the layoffs in an internal note, calling it “one of the most difficult decisions in Gameskraft’s journey”. He said the decision was “driven entirely by the external environment and the need to adapt to a new reality”, adding that it was not a reflection of employees’ performance.

Employees leaving the company will receive severance in line with their contracts, including leave encashment and health insurance cover until March 2026. Gameskraft said it would assist affected staff in transitioning to new roles.

The company indicated that further cuts cannot be ruled out as restructuring efforts continue.

The layoffs place Gameskraft among a growing list of gaming platforms forced into retrenchment since the ban. Head Digital Works, which runs A23 Rummy, shed nearly 500 jobs, or two-thirds of its workforce. Zupee cut 170 roles, while Mobile Premier League is reducing headcount by as much as 80 percent of its 500-600 employees, according to Moneycontrol. PokerBaazi operator Baazi Games has trimmed 200 positions, while Games24x7, owner of Rummy Circle and My11Circle, has also made reductions.

Financial strain mounts

The company reported a 25 percent fall in net profit to ₹706 crore in FY25 from ₹947 crore the year before, even as revenues rose 14 percent to ₹4,009 crore. The decline was attributed to two factors: the full-year impact of a 28 percent goods and services tax on online gaming, which drove tax outflows up by over ₹1,000 crore, and adjustments linked to unauthorised transactions flagged in the fraud case.

Gameskraft had been one of the few bootstrapped players in India’s online gaming ecosystem, achieving rapid growth since its founding in 2017. Its trajectory is now clouded by regulatory uncertainty and reputational damage.