India, Sept. 13 -- "After regrouping with our investors and the team, I've made the difficult decision to wind down Hike completely," Web3 gaming startup Hike's founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal shared in a post on social media while announcing the end of the road for Hike.

The shutdown follows the Indian government's recent crackdown on online real money gaming (RMG), which forced Hike to halt its India operations in August and shift focus to global markets. However, Mittal noted that this pivot would have required a complete reset-one that didn't justify the capital or time investment.

"We could raise the capital, but the real question is: is it worth it? Is this a climb worth pivoting for? For the first time in 13 years, my answer ...