Pixel P&L: $200M India Investment, Netflix Values WB Gaming at Zero, Square Enix Under Pressure

Welcome to another Pixel P&L edition. This issue takes 6 minutes to read. If you only have one, here are the 5 most important things:

• Krafton commits $200M to India over four years, targeting digital startups and esports infrastructure.

• Netflix values Warner Bros' gaming division at zero dollars in acquisition talks despite gaming ambitions.

• Activist investor slams Square Enix management with 100-page presentation, demands strategic overhaul.

• Arena of Valor outdraws Honor of Kings in global championship viewership despite rival's expansion push.

• EA Sports unveils $1M FC Pro League structure with dozen-plus licensed football partnerships.

Let's get into it.

Krafton Plans $200 Million India Investment Push

Korean gaming giant Krafton announced it will invest Rs 1,800 crore ($200 million) in India over the next three to four years, targeting digital startups and esports infrastructure expansion.

The Battlegrounds Mobile India publisher said the funds will support acquisitions of Indian tech companies, expand esports production capabilities, and develop global gaming titles from its Bengaluru development center. Planned improvements include enhanced tournament production facilities, upgraded game servers, and new gaming laboratories.

"We will invest around $50 million annually," said Sean Hyunil Sohn, Krafton India's Managing Director. "The market is more mature now, and many companies are using AI to scale up."

The investment follows Krafton's earlier $100 million commitment from 2021, which funded seven startups including NODWIN Gaming. The company has deployed over $200 million in India since 2021.

Sohn said operations remain unaffected by India's real money gaming restrictions, noting government support for esports creates favorable conditions.

Netflix Assigns Zero Value to Warner Bros Gaming in Acquisition

Netflix disclosed it attributed no financial value to Warner Bros' gaming operations in its proposed acquisition of the entertainment conglomerate, despite viewing the division as a potential accelerant for its own gaming ambitions.

"While they've been doing great work in the game space, we didn't attribute any value to that from the get-go because they're relatively minor compared to the grand scheme," said Co-CEO Gregory Peters, according to PocketGamer.biz.

Peters highlighted Warner Bros' successful titles like Hogwarts Legacy as properties Netflix could integrate into its platform, noting the company's studios and talent present opportunities not reflected in the deal model.

Netflix is refining its gaming strategy around four categories: immersive narrative games based on its IP like Squid Game, family-friendly content without ads or in-app purchases, premium mobile ports including recently released Red Dead Redemption, and social TV games using phones as controllers.

The streaming giant emphasized games as member value-adds rather than revenue drivers.

⚡️Quick Bytes

Activist Investor Challenges Square Enix Management

Singapore-based 3D Investment Partners, holding a 14.36% stake in Square Enix, released a 100-page presentation criticizing the Japanese gaming company's stagnant revenue growth and weak profit margins compared to rivals like Nintendo and Capcom. The activist fund blamed underperforming console and mobile divisions, large game cancellation write-downs, and "non-synergistic" arcade and publishing units for dragging down value. 3D Investment called Square Enix's 2025-2027 reboot strategy vague and insufficient after CEO Takashi Kiryu allegedly dismissed their October proposals via brief email, according to BusinessWire.

EA Sports Unveils $1 Million FC Pro League Structure

Electronic Arts confirmed over a dozen licensed football league partnerships for its EA FC 2026 FC Pro World Championship pathway, featuring a combined prize pool exceeding $1 million. The FC Pro League Phase integrates competitions from the Premier League, LALIGA, Bundesliga, Serie A, and MLS, among others, offering regional qualification routes to the eChampions League and global finals. Notable participants include reigning champion Manu Bachoore in eLigue 1 and Anders Vejrgang in eSerie A.

Arena of Valor Outdraws Honor of Kings in Global Championship Viewership

Arena of Valor's 2025 International Championship peaked at 742,000 viewers, surpassing rival Honor of Kings' 696,000-viewer peak, according to Esports Charts. Despite Honor of Kings' June 2024 global launch and expanding esports ecosystem, the older Arena of Valor (originally its 2016 international version) accumulated 21.6 million hours watched across 117 hours of airtime. Honor of Kings' championship, excluding Chinese teams, posted 3.2 million hours watched, marking its strongest international event. Arena of Valor's viewership came despite losing Indonesia's Star League earlier this year.

⚔️Side Quest

🤣Laugh:

📺 Watch: The Game Business’ candid interview with Embark CEO Patrick Söderlund reveals how his studio rescued The Finals from near-collapse, pivoted Arc Raiders' development strategy, and competes with industry giants through radical efficiency, building games 100 times faster using AI and procedural generation. Essential viewing on modern game development economics.

🎮 Play: Tape to Tape delivers fast-paced arcade hockey that's instantly accessible and wildly entertaining in couch co-op. With satisfying hitting mechanics, creative power-ups, and an engaging campaign mode, it converts even non-hockey fans like myself into players. Definite recommend for its price point.

📚 Read: Robin Bea examines how Steam and Epic banned Horses, a challenging game critiquing oppression and complicity, threatening Santa Ragione's survival. The piece explores why major storefronts rejected this uncomfortable but important work about power structures and dehumanization, and what their censorship reveals about who controls gaming's moral boundaries.

💡Did You Know

The video game Space Invaders wasn't just a hit arcade shoot 'em up; it became the highest-grossing entertainment product of all time by 1982. The iconic shooter had generated an astounding $14 billion in revenue when adjusted for inflation, surpassing every movie, album, and book that came before it.

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