Cricket hasn’t had a breakout big-budget game, LightFury Games wants to change it with ‘E-Cricket’

LightFury Games is leveraging AI tools to shorten the production time to under two years, from the typical 3-5 years required to develop a high-quality AAA title

LightFury Games, the gaming studio co-founded by former Unacademy partner and chief marketing officer Karan Shroff, is tapping into artificial intelligence(AI) and India's most popular sport, cricket, to launch its first title 'E-Cricket'

The big-budget game, commonly referred to as a AAA title in industry parlance, is set to be unveiled at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2025 in San Francisco on March 18.

"Cricket is the second-largest sport in the world but it doesn't yet have a title that, in our opinion, truly does justice to the sport," Shroff told Moneycontrol in an interview.

With E-Cricket, which is built on Unreal Engine 5, LightFury Games aims to deliver a real-time, multiplayer cricket experience that mirrors the unpredictability of the sport. The studio is developing the title in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and plans to launch it in early 2026.

"Think FIFA, but for cricket... whether it is playing a stroke a 100 times, you feel it's different or you set a total and I chase it down, every time you feel the change," Shroff said. FIFA, now rebranded as EA Sports FC, is one of the best-selling sports video game franchises in the world.

AI-powered development

AI is central to LightFury Games’ strategy, allowing the Bengaluru-based studio to shorten the production time to under two years from the typical three-five years required to develop a high-quality AAA title, while enhancing the gameplay experience.

This includes tools that can generate content in hours instead of weeks or months, which can ensure a steady stream of fresh content to keep players engaged in the future "Let's say there's a new haircut, a new style, or there's a new stroke that suddenly popped up... we can use AI plus certain proprietary tech that we are building to put that in our (game) build within an hour" Shroff said.

Another area is providing players with real-time commentary that can accurately capture what's happening in a game based on how it is unfolding, using tools such as ElevenLabs, an AI voice generator.

"You can also give a distinct voice and personality to umpires and then appeal for wickets. They will react in their own style, which is going to be different from the other person who sees the same game," said Anurag Banerjee, co-founder, LightFury Games.

India's rising potential as a global gaming hub

In 2024, Shroff teamed up with gaming industry veteran Anurag Banerjee and former Unacademy and Tencent Games executive Tina Balachandran to launch LightFury Games.

The Bengaluru-based startup bagged $8.5 million seed investment led by Blume Ventures and participation from Japanese mobile entertainment firm Mixi and micro venture capital firm Gemba Capital, besides angel investors such as Cred founder Kunal Shah and Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Munjal in April 2024.

This launch of E-Cricket comes as India's gaming sector matures, particularly in player preferences and spending habits, signaling the country's growing potential as a global gaming hub. It is also encouraging local studios to develop more ambitious and complex games.

India is the fastest-growing games market in Asia, both in terms of revenue and gamers, according to Niko Partners, a market research and consulting firm that covers video games, e-sports, and streaming in the continent.

The country's mobile, PC and console gaming market is expected to surpass $1 billion in revenue in 2025 and reach $1.4 billion in 2028, growing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.1 percent, it said. These figures do not include revenues from real-money games or exports.

E-Cricket will go head-to-head with Dream Sports' Dream Cricket 2025, JetSynthesys' titles Real Cricket and Sachin Saga, and Nazara Technologies-owned Nextwave Multimedia's World Cricket Championship. Hyderabad-based Hitwicket also offers an eponymous cricket strategy game.

LightFury Games plans to primarily monetise the cricket game through in-app purchases and cosmetic enhancements such as stadium upgrades. The title will not feature in-game ads but may explore on-ground branding, similar to what users see in a broadcast experience, Shroff said.

Avengers, assemble!

Shroff said the strong leadership team built over the past year will give the company an edge over rivals in developing a high-quality gaming title. The studio's leadership team includes global industry veterans from prominent gaming firms such as Ubisoft, Improbable and Electronic Arts. Collectively, they have built and shipped over 40 AAA titles across various genres.

"We've assembled the Avengers, as we call it, internally. The whole thought process is to lay out the foundation as perfectly as we can... We are not going down the route of trial and error but instead taking a structured approach with processes in place," Shroff said.

"The architecture is one of the most important things while laying the foundation for a AAA title. For example, we are multiplayer today. But can we create an ecosystem where you can (offer) multiplayer 11x11 (two teams of 11 players competing against each other). If you want to do that, we need to lay out the architecture right now. This is where the expertise comes in" he said.

Shroff said they will leverage the global playbook that has produced billion-dollar titles for decades while adding an Indian touch, more creativity, flair, innovation, and the latest technology.

The startup has around 65 employees, 15 of them are based overseas. Shroff said that about 80 percent of this employee base was not in Bengaluru a few months ago. This includes many Indians who have relocated back to Bengaluru from various parts of the world.

Banerjee, who serves as the company's group chief product and technology officer, said that having an experienced team helps in reducing the time to market and avoid repeating past mistakes. It also helps tackle tough challenges, such as solving a multiplayer ball physics system, which Banerjee mentions they have solved and are demonstrating it in an early build of the game at GDC 2025.

This is a crucial step towards making the title esports-ready, ensuring that no player has an advantage due to better network conditions, Banerjee said.

AWS collaboration to reach broader audiences

E-Cricket will be powered by Amazon GameLift Streams, a fully managed AWS capability that was announced by Amazon earlier this month. The capability enables developers to deliver high-fidelity, low-latency game experiences to players using any device with a web browser, thereby eliminating the need for dedicated gaming hardware.

Developers can stream games at up to 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second to PCs, phones, tablets, and smart TVs, allowing players to start playing AAA, AA, and indie games over the internet in seconds.

Banerjee said this technology makes premium gaming more accessible and affordable while enabling cross-platform play with high visual fidelity across all platforms. "This opens up the whole Indian market... I can play with my friend who is sitting on a PC while being on my phone on the move," he said. LightFury Games had early access to this technology a few months before its public release and will be showcasing it along with Amazon at GDC 2025.

"AWS is proud to support LightFury Games as they showcase their groundbreaking work on this new title at GDC" said Chris Lee, Head of Immersive Technologies at AWS.

"Amazon GameLift Streams empowers studios like LightFury Games to deliver exceptional experiences without hardware limitations and unlocks new opportunities for game developers worldwide" he said.