Dream Sports, the parent company of fantasy sports giant Dream11, has started a major restructuring of its portfolio. Its subsidiary FanCode announced the closure of its sports merchandise vertical, FanCode Shop, by October 2025. The decision signals a strategic pivot as the group absorbs the impact of India’s new regulatory framework on online gaming.
Why FanCode Shop Is Closing
FanCode confirmed that it began winding down its sports merchandise business in June 2025. The company explained that it wants to redirect capital and energy to its fastest-growing verticals: live sports content, streaming, and fan engagement.
A FanCode spokesperson issued a clear statement:
“This will help us focus on what’s growing fastest and delivering the most value to our users. FanCode Shop will continue running till October, and we will fulfill all orders placed during that time.”
The announcement followed months of internal debate. The merchandise arm struggled to generate sustainable returns. Counterfeit sports goods flooded the Indian market, undercutting official licensed products and eroding customer trust. According to an ET report, these persistent viability issues created a ceiling for growth that FanCode could not break through.
The Rise and Fall of FanCode Shop
Dream Sports launched FanCode Shop in 2020 with bold ambitions. It wanted to give Indian fans easy access to official sports merchandise. The shop stocked authentic apparel, fan gear, and collectibles through partnerships with leading leagues and clubs.
Some of its major tie-ups included:
- Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises – offering jerseys, caps, and accessories.
- The National Basketball Association (NBA) – providing official team merchandise to tap into India’s growing basketball community.
- International cricket boards – covering apparel from tours, ICC events, and national teams.
- Top European football clubs – giving fans legitimate jerseys and scarves that previously reached India only through unofficial channels.
The platform positioned itself as a one-stop shop for passionate fans. At the same time, FanCode leveraged its sports streaming service to cross-promote merchandise, creating an integrated ecosystem of sports consumption and fan culture.
However, despite the strong brand collaborations, FanCode Shop never reached scale. Knockoff jerseys sold on local e-commerce sites for a fraction of the price. Many fans continued to buy counterfeits, leaving the official market thin. Logistics and pricing challenges further weakened the platform’s competitive edge.
The Bigger Trigger: Online Gaming Regulation
The merchandise shutdown did not occur in isolation. It formed part of a larger reset at Dream Sports.
In April 2025, the Indian Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025. The law imposed strict restrictions on real-money gaming, effectively banning Dream11’s core fantasy sports operations. Dream11 CEO Harsh Jain later revealed that the company lost 95% of its revenue overnight.
Dream Sports responded by shutting down its real-money gaming vertical and refusing to challenge the Bill in court. Instead, the company pivoted its attention toward other ventures in its portfolio:
- FanCode – focused on live sports streaming, commentary, and analytics.
- DreamSetGo – a sports travel and hospitality brand.
- DreamCricket – a free-to-play online cricket game.
- Dream Money – a recently launched investment technology platform.
The closure of FanCode Shop fits into this broad consolidation. With its flagship revenue engine dismantled by law, Dream Sports has started pruning underperforming units and strengthening those with clearer growth paths.
Dream Sports’ New Game Plan
Dream Sports has redirected its focus from real-money fantasy gaming to a wider sports ecosystem strategy. The group believes that sports content, commerce, and experiences can still command strong engagement in India if executed with technology-driven innovation.
The company outlined four focus areas for the future:
- AI-driven sports content – creating personalized highlights, insights, and analysis to enhance fan engagement.
- Digital commerce around sports – exploring new models beyond physical merchandise, potentially in digital collectibles, NFTs, or AI-powered fan shops.
- Sports hospitality and experiences – scaling DreamSetGo to provide premium travel and stadium experiences.
- Fintech integration – expanding Dream Money to tap into the financial services appetite of its vast user base.
This diversified roadmap suggests Dream Sports wants to evolve into a sports-tech conglomerate rather than remain dependent on a single fantasy gaming product.
Market Challenges for Sports Merchandising in India
The closure of FanCode Shop highlights the deeper structural problems in India’s sports merchandise industry.
- Rampant counterfeiting: Cheap knockoffs dominate marketplaces, often indistinguishable from originals to casual fans.
- Price sensitivity: Indian fans remain reluctant to pay premium prices for authentic gear, unlike Western markets.
- Limited retail culture: Outside of cricket, fandom for global sports like football and basketball remains niche in terms of merchandise spending.
- Fragmented logistics: Distributing official goods across India at competitive prices remains difficult for specialized e-commerce players.
FanCode attempted to solve these issues with exclusive partnerships and digital integration. But the economics never added up. By contrast, major e-commerce giants with broader product portfolios can cross-subsidize losses in sports merchandise, something FanCode could not sustain as a standalone platform.
Industry Reactions and Implications
Industry observers view the exit as a pragmatic move. By cutting a low-yield business, FanCode can double down on streaming and analytics, where demand continues to grow. India’s sports viewership has surged, particularly for cricket, football, and emerging leagues like kabaddi.
For Dream Sports, this also represents a chance to rebuild investor confidence after the regulatory shock to its fantasy sports unit. Investors will likely monitor how effectively the company can repurpose its technology, brand value, and large user community into new monetizable products.
At the same time, the decision leaves a gap in India’s official sports merchandise market. Without FanCode Shop, fans may have fewer trusted options for legitimate gear. Global brands may need to re-evaluate their India strategies, possibly leaning more on collaborations with mainstream e-commerce players.
The Road Ahead for FanCode
FanCode now stands at a crucial juncture. By shedding its merchandise arm, it can dedicate resources fully to its core proposition: sports content. The platform already streams live matches, offers ball-by-ball commentary, and provides deep analytics. It can now accelerate innovation in personalization, interactivity, and fan engagement.
AI could play a central role. Dream Sports has hinted at AI-driven recommendations, real-time match insights, and interactive fan experiences. Such features could set FanCode apart in India’s increasingly crowded sports streaming market, where it competes with platforms like Disney+ Hotstar, JioCinema, and Sony LIV.
Conclusion
The closure of FanCode Shop marks the end of a short but ambitious chapter for Dream Sports’ merchandising experiment. Launched with high hopes in 2020, the platform struggled against counterfeit markets and pricing barriers. The regulatory blow to Dream11 accelerated its demise, as Dream Sports trimmed non-core businesses to conserve resources.
Looking ahead, Dream Sports is betting on AI, digital commerce, sports hospitality, and fintech to rebuild its empire. FanCode will play a central role in this transformation as the group pivots to content-led growth.
For Indian fans, the move underscores a hard truth: authentic sports merchandise remains a challenging market in India. For Dream Sports, it represents a disciplined shift toward ventures that can scale faster and deliver higher value.
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