Nazara FY26 Earnings: 13% Revenue Growth Amid Global Gaming Pivot

Indian gaming and esports heavyweight Nazara Technologies is navigating a complex mix of historic financial wins and severe regulatory hurdles for its 2026 financial year. The publisher reported a solid 13% year-over-year rise in annual revenue, reaching ₹18.3 billion ($189.7 million USD), up from ₹16.2B ($168.6M) earned in FY2025. While this top-line growth shows the company's resilience, the true story lies in a staggering $95M impairment charge brought on by the sudden legislative wipeout of India’s real-money gaming sector.

Looking more closely at the financials, Nazara’s core gaming segment was the clear heavy lifter for the year, generating the bulk of revenue at nearly ₹10.7B ($111.3M). The company’s ad-tech division followed with a strong ₹4.5B ($47.2M), while the esports segment held its ground, contributing ₹3B ($31.9M). The company also celebrated its highest-ever core profitability, delivering an EBITDA of ₹2.55B ($26.5M)—a massive 66% growth over the previous year, capped by a 19.5% profit margin in the final quarter.

However, the rapid growth Nazara enjoyed in previous years has started to cool. The 13% annual revenue increase is noticeably slower than the massive 43% spike seen in FY2025, a year that heavily benefited from high-margin games. The company also experienced a sluggish fourth quarter, with revenue dropping 24% year-over-year to ₹3.9B ($41.3M), which was down 2% from the third quarter’s ₹4B, as per Pocketgamer.biz. 

Moonshine and the Online Gaming Act

Despite the impressive top-line resilience, Nazara’s bottom line took a brutal hit, revealing the harsh reality of doing business amid India’s shifting domestic policies. The company had to absorb a colossal ₹9.1B ($94.9M) impairment loss tied directly to its shares in Moonshine Technologies. This massive write-down was the immediate fallout of the Indian government enacting the Online Gaming (Promotion and Regulation) Act, 2025. 

The sweeping legislation banned all real-money gaming operations across the country overnight, regardless of whether the titles were based on skill or chance. The ban is to protect citizens, citing deep concerns over addictive algorithms, manipulative design features leading to financial ruin, and the risk of money laundering. As a result, Moonshine’s entire business ceased to exist, completely wiping out Nazara’s substantial investment.

To survive this local regulatory storm and insulate itself from future policy shocks, Nazara is aggressively pivoting toward the international market. During the last quarter, the publisher made a strategic move to acquire a 50% controlling stake in Spain-based Bluetile Games and its rewarded engagement arm, BestPlay Systems. In addition, Nazara has successfully raised over $50 million to fund future global acquisitions and build AI-enabled gaming businesses specifically tailored for audiences outside of India.

For Nazara’s leadership, this turbulent, challenging year is ultimately viewed as a successful transformation. Joint Managing Director and CEO Nitish Mittersain called FY26 a pivotal year, noting that the company is now operating at a materially different scale than it was just twelve months ago. Highlighting that the quality and earning capacity of their platform have expanded significantly, Mittersain made the company's new mission clear: the years ahead are fully dedicated to scaling Nazara on the global stage.