Gurugram-based real money gaming platform Zupee on Thursday said it has laid off 170 employees, or nearly 30% of its workforce. It joins a series of firms that have restructured their operations since the government banned all forms of online real money gaming last month.
The company said it will offer affected employees severance pay of up to six months, extended health insurance coverage and a Rs 1-crore medical support fund.
Major gaming sector firms have laid off nearly 1,370 employees so far
Real money gaming firms, including A23’s parent Head Digital Works, MPL, Games24x7 and Zupee, have cumulatively laid off nearly 1,370 employees so far. Earlier this month, Head Digital Works laid off 500 employees, MPL laid off 300, and Games24x7 cut 400 jobs.
Many of these startups have also begun tapping alternate revenue streams, including Dream11, whose parent has ventured into the wealth management space with Dream Money, and Winzo, which has launched micro-dramas on its platform and is expanding to the US audience.
Earlier this month, Zupee also announced the launch of Zupee Studio, a short-format video platform for mobile-first audiences across Tier 2 and 3 cities in India. The new platform will host one to three-minute episodes across genres such as romance, comedy, drama, and thrillers.
Layoffs among tech startups have eased
Despite the increasing number of layoffs in the e-gaming sector, overall, the layoffs among tech startups have seen a sharp decline so far this year. Startups in India have laid off nearly half the number of employees so far this year, compared to the same period last year.
Data from layoffs.fyi show that 23 companies have laid off 4,212 employees so far this year, much lower than 8,045 fired by 34 companies during the same period last year.
While the sector remains far from the aggressive hiring seen during the 2021 funding boom, startups appear to be moving away from mass layoffs. Most of the layoffs this year were led by Ola Electric Mobility, which reportedly let go of around 1,000 employees and contract workers over two months.
Besides Ola Electric, VerSe Innovation, the parent of DailyHunt and Josh, laid off nearly 350 employees as part of a broader restructuring exercise.
Last year, during the same period, Paytm’s parent One97 Communications fired nearly 3,500 employees in a strategic restructuring aimed at improving profitability, after the Reserve Bank of India put restrictions on services offered by Paytm Payments Bank, citing compliance issues.
Besides Paytm, e-commerce major Flipkart let go of 1,100 employees, or nearly 5% of its workforce, as a part of its performance-based appraisal cycle. Mass layoffs were also seen at food delivery major Swiggy, which cut 400 jobs, and troubled ed-tech firm Byju’s, which fired another 500 employees.