Hike, founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, has shut down after 13 years. The company, which started as a messaging app and later became a Web3 gaming platform, was forced to shut down its operations in India after the government banned real-money gaming (RMG). Mittal said that moving into global markets would have required a lot of capital and time, making it impossible.

Although Hike saw positive results after expanding to the US, with a higher user revenue and retention rate compared to India, that momentum was not enough to sustain the business. Mittal admitted that starting in India had tied the company to regulatory challenges that were difficult to escape.

The RMG ban hit the entire industry hard, leading to massive layoffs and business pivots. Startups like Zupee, Games24x7, PokerBaazi, and MPL are cutting jobs, while Dream11's parent company, Dream Sports, and WinZO are exploring new areas like investment technology and short video content.