NODWIN’s Akshat Rathee calls Online Gaming Bill a watershed moment for Indian e-sports

Passed in just three days, the new Online Gaming Bill was hailed by Akshat Rathee, a serial entrepreneur and Co-founder & MD of NODWIN Gaming, which is owned by listed gaming giant Nazara Technologies. Calling the government's clear backing for e-sports a "watershed moment" for Indian e-sports, Rathee, in an exclusive conversation with Fortune India, said the online gaming bill brings much-needed clarity as to why e-sports is a "skill-driven, competitive, and community-powered" game, which will create the right environment for its structured growth.

With the new gaming bill, Rathee says e-sports will now be a mainstream career option for those with skill and discipline. "This distinction will help accelerate mainstream adoption, as parents, educators, and policymakers now view e-sports with credibility. For brands and investors, the reduced regulatory risk means greater willingness to back teams, leagues, and content creators."

The bill's clear distinction will definitely help remove stigma associated with "gaming" in general in India, where e-sports, real-money gaming and other gaming segments are often painted with the same brush. With the Modi government already promising to make India an e-sports and online social games hub, Rathee feels India can finally position e-sports, alongside traditional sports, as a pursuit of excellence and national pride.

"E-sports is about representation of self, team, or country, and it’s meant for broadcast. It is more like the IPL -- broadcastable, professional, and competitive. RMG is more like gully cricket where the stakes are personal, not public."

The new Online Gaming Bill promises better infrastructure and management for the e-sports segment, while also assuring a central authority, which will define the rules of the game. Rathee says e-sports should get recognition like cricket or any other sport. “Top BGMI players now earn over ₹1 crore annually. Like the IPL, we have a few superstars. We also have teams, organisations, gaming houses, and coaches. The system is solid and growing.”

SonyLIV JV and South Asia rights for E-sports World Cup 2025

NODWIN Gaming, which recently announced a JV with Sony LIV for media rights of the just-concluded E-sports World Cup (EWC) 2025, also managed the E-sports World Cup Foundation's media rights and regional distribution across South Asia. This year's EWC 2025, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, featured the world’s top e-sports clubs and players across multiple formats, with a record-breaking prize pool of $70.45 million (over Rs 600 crore).

"E-sports World Cup is like the Olympics," says Rathee. The World Cup this year comprised 100 gaming studios, with 1.6 million people attending the event. There were a total of 22 games, seven weeks of action, and spending worth $300 million (₹2,500 crore) on the organisation of the event. "Over 800 global teams participated in it. Last year, India had zero teams; we didn’t have a game that qualified. We fixed that. This time, we got a broadcast partner in SonyLIV. We got S8UL, India’s top team represented us. We brought in chess and BGMI. Now, Indian players are here. It doesn’t matter what team they play for: when an Indian wins, India wins."

Rathee says the SonyLIV deal for the E-sports World Cup was a big step forward. “YouTube is great, but brands are still hesitant to fully back it. Traditional sports get serious attention on linear and OTT platforms; that's the model we’re leaning towards.” Sony is also both an investor and a long-term partner of NODWIN, with notable collaborations like Crunchyroll, Comic Con, and PlayStation.

This year, India participated in two sports -- chess and BGMI. Professional esports organisation Gen.G E-sports signed Arjun Erigaisi, while Nihal Sarin, who played from S8UL E-sports, represented India and finished in the top 8. In PUBG Mobile, Team India's BGMI team, Team Aryan X TMG Gaming, made an entry into the EWC main event.

Expansion and Nazara Link

When it comes to NODWIN’s growth trajectory, Rathee feels profit is an “important” growth metric, especially as the company aims towards a future IPO. “But it’s not our end goal. We want to be a billion-dollar revenue company in 10 years. Profit should be around 10%, that’s ₹100 million on ₹1 billion revenue.” Last year, NODWIN recorded ₹530 crore in revenue, with a ₹11 crore loss due to an underperforming investment. “Historically, we’ve always been profitable. Profit for pride, sustainability, and strength - yes. Profit for vanity – never,” says Rathee. Post the deconsolidation, the company recently raised $10 million and is also looking to raise another $50-100 million, Rathee revealed.

NODWIN Gaming, a material and independent subsidiary of Nazara Technologies, was valued at $410 million (₹3,441 crore) as of November 2024. With a series of acquisitions such as Comic Con India, Ninja Global FZCO, Freaks 4U Gaming, Trinity Gaming, and full ownership of AFK Gaming, across e-sports formats, the company cemented its position as one of India's largest e-sports companies and expanded operations across MENA, Turkey, and Germany.

Talking about its association with Nazara, Rathee says India’s largest and only listed gaming company, with which it deconsolidated recently, didn't sell a single share. NODWIN is still in the Nazara ecosystem, and the company holds 48–49% of NODWIN Gaming, but the deconsolidation will open up the door for investors or a future IPO. “Their stance was: “You’ve grown up, now go build on your own and make us money.” It’s similar to how Sanjeev Bikhchandani from Info Edge supported Shaadi.com.”

Ambition to become the 'Disney' of Global South

E-sports content consumption in India is scattered across platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and OTTs. Rathee asserts that there’s no specific formula to capture the fragmented e-sports and entertainment audience in India unless it builds its own shield, like Jio and Hotstar are trying to do. “People often point to China’s model - platforms like Bilibili grew because of the Great Firewall, which protected them from outside competition. In India, YouTube is YouTube. We don’t have a local equivalent. Our broadcasting value essentially sits on the NASDAQ, not in India. Unless India builds its own shield, we’ll always depend on Amazon, Google, Netflix, etc.”

NODWIN, which apart from e-sports has various media verticals such as Playground, which runs on Amazon Prime and MiniTV, and platforms like NH7 Weekender, Comic Con, and a large youth multi-channel network with influencers, aims to become the “Disney” of the Global South, and spread beyond India to countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and even Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. “These regions are young and their spending on youth entertainment will grow massively. That’s our path,” shares Rathee, who has steered NODWIN from a small start to a global leadership position.

Famously known as “sports professor”, the NODWIN CEO shares two prophecies for Indian e-sports fans: “In 10 years, a majority of G20 leaders will be gamers. Right now, only two are, and that will change. And India will win an e-sports gold medal in the next 5 years.”