Published: November 07, 2026
StartupFeed Quick Take
- Mahesh Babu took a minority stake in Mumbai’s Shortgun Games, announced on November 3, 2026.
- The studio raised $1 Mn in seed money in August 2025 and is building a game called Project Takedown.
- Project Takedown targets a global launch in late 2028, on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox.
Telugu film star Mahesh Babu took a minority stake in Mumbai’s Shortgun Games, announced on November 3, 2026. The amount was not disclosed.
India had 555 million gamers in 2025, the Lumikai State of India Interactive Media Report 2025 shows. Yet all ten top-grossing games were foreign franchises like Free Fire and BGMI.
That market grew 17% to $1.5 Bn in 2025, even as the gamer base shrank 9% from 609 million a year earlier. Lumikai expects it to reach $3.2 Bn by 2030.
Mobile games take almost all of it.
What Shortgun Games Is Building
Shortgun Games builds games only for PC and consoles, not mobile. Its co-founders are Jeet Chandan and Vidhit Mehta, and its team includes former developers of the shooter Rogue Heist.
In August 2025, Shortgun Games raised $1 Mn in seed funding from angel investors. That money went into pre-production, a working prototype and hiring.
Its flagship game, Project Takedown, is a story-driven action game set in a near-future Mumbai. It is being built for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with a global launch targeted for late 2028.
Indian action director Vicky Arora leads the game’s action design. His credits include Uri: The Surgical Strike and RRR. His team handles the stunt work.
What Mahesh Babu Brings to Shortgun Games
Mahesh Babu will do more than write a cheque. He plans to work with the team on original gaming IP, starting with Project Takedown.
Mahesh Babu also runs the AMB Cinemas multiplex chain. Shortgun Games is his first investment in a game studio.
Vidhit Mehta, co-founder and director of Shortgun Games, put the studio’s aim plainly:
“We founded Shortgun Games with a singular focus: to prove that India can engineer world-class interactive entertainment for PC and modern consoles.”
Vidhit Mehta, co-founder and director, Shortgun Games. From the company statement, November 3, 2026.
What this means for you: If you are building a premium PC or console game in India, a bankable film star just backed one of your rivals. Watch whether Project Takedown hits its late 2028 target, because a celebrity-backed miss would make the next pitch to investors harder.
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