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𝗠𝗣𝗟 𝘃𝘀. 𝗗𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝟭𝟭: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫 By the late 2010s, fantasy gaming in India exploded. Cricket obsession, cheap internet, and digital payments turned it into 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞. Two giants emerged: 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝟏𝟏, the early player, and 𝐌𝐏𝐋 (𝐌𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞), the aggressive challenger. Both had money. Both had big dreams. But in the end, 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐧. 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟭: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁-𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 Timing is everything. 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝟏𝟏 (𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝: 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟖) → Spent years educating users, fighting legal battles, and improving its product. 𝐌𝐏𝐋 (𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝: 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖) → Entered with cash-heavy marketing and a mix of fantasy sports + casual games. Dream11’s 𝟏𝟎-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 meant: • A loyal user base • Legal clarity on fantasy sports • Strong partnerships By the time MPL arrived, Dream11 was already the 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟮: 𝗜𝗣𝗟 – 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗮𝗿 Fantasy gaming is about 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭. And in India, nothing builds trust like 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭—especially the 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 (𝐈𝐏𝐋). 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟗 – Dream11 became 𝐈𝐏𝐋’𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫. 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎 – When Vivo dropped out, Dream11 𝐰𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐏𝐋 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩. 𝐌𝐏𝐋 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 – Sponsoring 𝐊𝐊𝐑 & 𝐑𝐂𝐁, , but it wasn’t enough. Dream11 didn’t just advertise—it became the 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭. If you thought of fantasy gaming, you thought of Dream11. 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟯: 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 – 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝘃𝘀. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝟏𝟏 → Focused only on fantasy sports (cricket, football, basketball). 𝐌𝐏𝐋 → Did fantasy sports + casual games (rummy, poker, chess, arcade games, etc.). MPL wanted 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬. Dream11 wanted 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬—𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 and played regularly. While MPL 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐬, Dream11: • Built 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 • Became 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚’𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟗) • Avoided 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 MPL spread itself too thin. Dream11 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧. 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟰: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲 – 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘁 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁 In 2017, 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝟏𝟏 𝐰𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞—fantasy sports were ruled 𝐚 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. This ruling helped Dream11: • Gain 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 • Scale 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬 • Avoid 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐬 MPL, with its 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬, faced 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬. When regulators cracked down, 𝐌𝐏𝐋 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤. Dream11? 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲: 𝗗𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝟭𝟭 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗮 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 By 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑, MPL 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 its fantasy gaming section. Dream11? • 180M+ users • Zero major competition left • Growing into new sports and markets MPL tried 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. Dream11 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. MPL 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞. Dream11 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐧. I hope you've found this helpful. Follow Vishu Bheda for more such startups wars!