Nazara Technologies is an Indian multinational

technology company A technology company (or tech company) is a company that focuses primarily on the manufacturing, support, research and development of—most commonly computing, telecommunication and consumer electronics–based—technology-intensive products and ...

that has business interests in

mobile game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

, and sports media. It is based in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

History

Nazara Technologies was founded by Nitish Mittersain in 1999 as an online gaming portal. In 2002, it switched to providing mobile entertainment VAS for telecom operators, including WAP content downloads of

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

s and mobile games. Early

likeness rights Personality rights, sometimes referred to as the right of publicity, are rights for an individual to control the commercial use of their identity, such as name, image, likeness, or other unequivocal identifiers. They are generally considered as p ...

partnerships to deliver mobile content included those with

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...

MS Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian professional cricketer who plays as a right-handed batter and a wicket-keeper. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific wicket-keeper batsmen and captains and one of the greatest O ...

and

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

. Nazara later expanded mobile games VAS into the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, also becoming the licensed

distributor A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time. Design ...

EA Mobile EA Mobile Inc. is an American video game developer, video game development studio of the video game publisher, publisher Electronic Arts (EA) for mobile platforms. The studio's primary business is producing games for mobile phones. It has als ...

's games in these regions apart from

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

n countries. In 2015, Nazara obtained the license from Green Gold Animations to create mobile games based on '' Chhota Bheem'' animated television series. In 2016, Nazara tied up with Indian comics company

Amar Chitra Katha Amar Chitra Katha (ACK Comics) is an Indian comic book publisher, based in Mumbai, India. The company was founded in 1967 by Anant Pai. Most of its comics are based on religious legends and epics, historical figures and biographies, folktale ...

to develop mobile games on '' Tinkle'' characters like Shikari Shambu. In 2018, Nazara acquired a majority stake in Nextwave Multimedia, a

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

-based mobile game developer known for '' World Cricket Championship'' titles. It also acquired 55% stake in esports firm Nodwin Gaming. Nazara was planning to go public in 2018 and had obtained approval from the market regulators, but halted the process. In 2019, Nazara Technologies purchased a 67% stake in Sportskeeda for ₹44 crore. It acquired a 51% stake in Paper Boat Apps, the developer and publisher of gamified early learning app Kiddopia, for 83.5 crore in the same year. In March 2021, Nazara was listed on the NSE and BSE after its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. Later the same year, it acquired the

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

-based real-money gaming company OpenPlay for 186 crore. In 2022, Nazara acquired a 55% stake in Datawrkz, an advertising technology company based in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, for 124 crore. Later that year, it bought out the US-based kids gaming company WildWorks for $10.4 million. In 2023, Nazara Technologies joined the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) as a principal member. In 2024, Nazara acquired Comic Con India for 55 crore through its subsidiary Nodwin Gaming. On August 8, 2024, it had been announced that Nazara has acquired UK based Fusebox Games for $27.2 million. The company is known for making Love Island-themed games since 2018. In September 2024, Nazara Technologies acquired 47.7% stake in Moonshine Technology, the parent company of PokerBaazi for Rs 832 crore. In January 2025, Nazara Technologies bought two mobile games King of Thieves and CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars from Zeptolab for USD 7.7 million. In May 2025, Nazara Technologies acquired Smaaash Entertainment, an arcade franchise from India, Smaash provides on-venue activities like bowling, go-karting, arcade gaming as well as dining and drinking. Smaash has been rebranded as Zoreko. In May 2025, Nazara Technologies acquired British indie game publisher Curve Games, whose released titles include ''Human: Fall Flat''.

Subsidiaries

Sportskeeda

Sportskeeda is a global sports and

media

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of Nazara Technologies headquartered in

, India. It features news, articles, and live coverage of sports such as

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

, and

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

. In 2009, the company was founded by Porush Jain. After a few months, the company raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors. In 2011, an early stage venture capital funding company, Seedfund, invested ₹2.8 crore. In 2019, Nazara Technologies acquired a 67% stake in Sportskeeda for ₹44 crore, valuing Sportskeeda at ₹65 crore. In 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the company launched two video series: ''Freehit'' and ''SKlive'', featuring interviews with prominent sportspeople. In May 2022, Nazara set up its subsidiary Sportskeeda Inc. in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

, US. In November 2022, Porush Jain resigned as CEO and Ajay Pratap Singh was promoted to take his place. In 2023, Sportskeeda acquired a 73.27% stake in Pro Football Network LLC, a US-based sports analysis website that covers the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) and

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

, for ₹16 crore (US$1.82 million). In 2024, Nazara Technologies further acquired 19.35 % for ₹145.5 crore in Absolute Sports, the parent company of Sportskeeda, increasing its total ownership to 91%. In 2025, Nazara Technologies acquired Curve Games, the parent company of Sportskeeda, 100% for ₹247 crore, increasing its total ownership to 100%.

Games

* '' World Cricket Championship'' *''Kiddopia'' * '' Animal Jam'' *''Motu Patlu Run''

References

External Links

* {{authority control Online companies of India Companies based in Mumbai Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Mobile game companies Indian sport websites Mobile technology companies Video game companies of India