Games 24x7 cuts staff amid GST dispute, industry turmoil
Games 24x7 is backed by Tiger Global Management, The Raine Group, Malabar Investment Advisors, and Das & Co
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Online gaming company, Games 24x7, has reportedly laid off around 180 employees amid the case pertaining to 28% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on online "learning/skill" games. According to a report by Livemint, citing sources, the laid-off individuals were permanent staff.
Offices located in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, the company hired staff in large volume to boost growth over the past two years. The last headcount of the company was recorded at 821 as of October 2024 as per the data by Tracxn.
The report, citing industry executives said that the layoffs were necessary to reduce the impact of costs in My11Circle, a fantasy sports division. My11Cirle competes with Dream11, which is a title sponsor of the Indian Premier League 2025. The executives told the business daily that IPL sponsorship is a significant cost burden to the company.
Games 24x7 is backed by Tiger Global Management, The Raine Group, Malabar Investment Advisors, and Das & Co.
'Layoffs at Indian gaming industry'
India's online gaming sector, with a size of around $3.7 billion, is facing the double-edged sword of intense scrutiny by the government and 28% GST on the total entry amount in online games.
Earlier this week, the premises of the Supreme Court of India saw the spar between the government and online gaming companies about whether games of skills such as chess and rummy should be categorised as gambling and betting games.
Representing the Union government, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) N. Venkatraman said, they have no issues with games of skills. However, "When a person wagers on the outcome, even in a game of skill, it amounts to gambling".
In contrast, the gaming industry players contested the government's interpretation of Rule 31A of the CGST Rules. The rule mandates a 28% GST on the full face value of each bet, a policy gaming firms argue should apply only to traditional forms of gambling and betting—not to games requiring skill, like rummy, poker, or fantasy sports.
The apex court is expected to conclude the hearing till May 9 but it is likely to be extended.
Separately, the government is in the advanced stage of bringing online real money gaming companies under the ambit of anti-money laundering laws. The players will be denoted as "reporting entities" under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
This means they will have to provide information about their clients, including transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) under the Ministry of Finance. Additionally, such players will have to maintain a record of all transactions, the identity of their clients, account files, and business correspondence relating to their clients.
In August 2023, the GST Council kept a 28% levy on online gaming. Following this Mobile Premiere League (MPL) laid off around 350 employees. Around the same time, Rush Gaming Universe cut 55 jobs. On the other hand, Quizy shut its operations entirely.
Despite the upheaval, India’s online gaming user base rose to 48.8 crore in 2024, according to the FICCI-EY Report 2025.
