#e4mExclusive:  Zupee exits gaming business after RMG ban, pivots to AI ventures

Zupee has moved out of the gaming business following the ban on real-money gaming (RMG), announcing plans to shut its remaining free-to-play games and pivot to building artificial intelligence-led businesses aimed at addressing India's needs.

The Gurugram-based company said it would leverage advanced technology to develop products that meaningfully contribute to India's progress, marking the next phase of its journey after eight years in gaming. The move completes a transition that began in August 2025, when Zupee discontinued real-money gaming following the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act.

After exiting real-money gaming, Zupee shifted its platform to a free-to-play model and continued serving players for more than a year. With its strategic direction now changing, the company has decided to close its remaining games, bringing its gaming operations to an end.

Founded in 2018, Zupee built its business around mobile versions of traditional Indian games, particularly Ludo. The company said more than 200 million people had played on its platform, with the large majority coming from smaller cities and towns. Many of these users were playing games on smartphones for the first time.

Zupee said its next phase would draw on the technology, product design and consumer understanding it developed while building and operating gaming products at scale. Its experience includes real-time multiplayer technology, products designed for first-time internet users and an understanding of how consumers in smaller Indian markets use mobile devices.

The company is positioning these capabilities as the foundation for its AI ambitions, although it has not specified the business verticals it plans to enter, the products it intends to launch or the timeline for their rollout.

“Zupee was never only a Ludo company. It was a bet that India’s next few hundred million internet users deserved products built for them first, not adapted for them later,” the company said in its announcement, adding that the technology and team it developed would carry forward into its next chapter.

The shift comes against the backdrop of regulatory changes that have reshaped India's online gaming industry. Following the enactment of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act in August 2025, Zupee discontinued its real-money gaming operations and moved to free-to-play gaming. The company has now decided to discontinue the latter as well, rather than continue operating as a gaming platform.

Its new mandate is to build AI businesses using what it describes as frontier technology, with an emphasis on products tailored to Indian users. The announcement, however, does not identify specific AI applications, prospective partnerships, investment commitments or revenue targets.

Zupee's experience in building consumer products for a large user base could provide a starting point for its new direction. Its stated strengths include developing technology capable of handling a large number of users, simplifying digital experiences for first-time internet users and designing products for audiences beyond India's major urban centres.

Zupee's exit marks a further change in direction for a company that built its identity around casual skill-based gaming and mobile entertainment. Having discontinued real-money gaming and now decided to close its remaining free-to-play titles, it is positioning itself for a future outside gaming, with AI-led businesses at the centre of its strategy.