GodLike Esports and Skyesports just signed an MoU with Maharashtra Cyber, the state government’s cybercrime and cybersecurity agency, to jointly develop grassroots esports tournaments and push cyber safety awareness across the state. The announcement dropped on March 23, 2026.
On paper, the scope is broad: community tournaments, cyber hygiene education, online safety campaigns, and responsible gaming programs. In practice, what makes this notable is who is at the table. Maharashtra Cyber is not a sponsor. It is a law enforcement agency. ADG Yashasvi Yadav, the officer running it, handles financial cyber fraud investigations and state-level cybercrime response. His unit partnering with two private esports companies to educate young gamers is something Indian esports has not seen before.
The timing is hard to ignore. The Global Esports Games World Finals ended in Mumbai just one day earlier. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated that event on March 19 at the MMRDA Grounds. Forty-eight athletes from 19 countries, Dota 2 and Clash Royale, India’s first time hosting the tournament. This MoU is the follow-through.
What it actually involves
The collaboration has two sides. GodLike and Skyesports handle the esports part: grassroots tournaments and community initiatives across Maharashtra. Maharashtra Cyber handles the safety part: cyber hygiene awareness, online safety messaging, and responsible gaming education aimed at young players.
Yadav said it plainly: “Cyber safety and responsible behaviour must grow alongside esports.” That framing matters. The state is not treating gaming as a problem to regulate. It is treating gaming as a channel to reach young people who might otherwise never sit through a cyber safety presentation.
Whether that translates into actual programming at tournaments (a Maharashtra Cyber booth at BGIS watch parties, safety awareness segments during Skyesports streams) remains to be seen.
Maharashtra has been building toward this
This did not come out of nowhere. Maharashtra has been stacking esports and digital safety moves for months.
The state hosted the Global Esports Games. Fadnavis has publicly talked about positioning Maharashtra as a hub for digital innovation. The government is drafting legislation to regulate online gaming and curb gaming-related cybercrime. A task force on digital addiction among children was formed recently, looking at age verification for gaming platforms and putting “Digital Hygiene” into school curriculums.
And nationally, the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 (PROGA) created India’s first real regulatory framework for esports. Esports debuted at the Khelo India Youth Games. Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Rajasthan. Multiple states are now competing to own this space. Maharashtra wants to be first.
This MoU is the state saying: we are not going to wait for national policy to trickle down. We will build the esports-plus-safety model ourselves, using the orgs that already have the audience.
Who is involved
GodLike Esports, founded by Chetan “Kronten” Chandgude, is Mumbai-based and one of India’s biggest esports brands. Their BGMI roster has featured Jonathan, Neyoo, and ClutchGod at various points. Right now the squad is deep in BGIS 2026, with Grand Finals starting March 27 in Chennai. GodLike also qualified for the Pokemon UNITE Asia Champions League in Yokohama later this month.
Kronten framed it around grassroots: “Real growth comes from strengthening grassroots and guiding young gamers.”
Skyesports is India’s largest tournament organizer, founded by Shiva Nandy and owned by JetSynthesys. They run the Skyesports Championship, the Skyesports League, the Chennai Esports Global Championship, and recently organized the Pokemon UNITE India League for The Pokemon Company. Government partnerships are not new for Skyesports. They signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) in September 2025 and have worked with Tamil Nadu on the CM’s Trophy. This Maharashtra deal extends that playbook to a cybersecurity agency.
Nandy kept it simple: “Strong collaboration between industry and government is key to esports growth.”
Maharashtra Cyber is the state’s nodal agency for cybercrime investigation and cybersecurity. They are not a policy think tank. They are the people who investigate online fraud. Maharashtra reported the second-highest cybercrime caseload in India in 2023, trailing only Uttar Pradesh. That context explains why the state’s cyber unit is interested in reaching gamers early with safety messaging rather than only showing up after something goes wrong.
Does this actually matter?
Honest answer: it depends on execution.
MoUs in Indian esports have a mixed track record. They tend to generate a press release, maybe one or two events, and then go quiet. Skyesports’ IICT MoU from September 2025 was effective for one year with renewal provisions, and the format is familiar. The question is whether Maharashtra Cyber commits resources to ongoing programming or treats this as a one-time photo opportunity.
What works in this MoU’s favor: GodLike has massive reach among young Indian gamers, especially in the BGMI audience. Skyesports has the event infrastructure to actually run tournaments with embedded safety content. And Maharashtra Cyber has a genuine operational interest in reducing cybercrime among the demographics most likely to fall for gaming scams, phishing links, and account theft.
The precedent is the more interesting thing. If Maharashtra’s cybercrime unit can partner with esports orgs, other states can too. That changes the conversation from “gaming causes problems” to “gaming audiences are reachable, and we should be reaching them.” For an industry that spent years fighting for legitimacy, that shift is worth more than any single MoU.
We will know in six months whether this one has legs.
