No longer Child’s Play

When it was banned from Indian servers, there was a huge void left. However, industry experts and gamers are doubtful whether the new take Battlegrounds Mobile India (BMI) has what it takes to enthral a nation like PUBG did. We speak to experts on what’s in store:

Tarun Gupta, Founder, Ultimate Battle
Restricting user engagement based on age is a great move as this will reduce playtime and psychological immersion of gamers below 18 years of age. Another thing is that BMI is a strictly Indian version. For Indian gamers to compete globally, cross-version gameplay will be an important feature to incorporate. I also speculate whether importing the old user data will be possible or will players have to build up profiles from scratch.

Abhinav Tejan a.k.a Tejan, gamer:
This time it will be a little different because of the new restrictions on players below the age of 18. I support the spending limit on in-app purchases but don’t support playtime restrictions because it will affect the future esports scene. Most esports athletes started playing when they were a teenager and they wouldn’t have been able to get to such lengths by playing three hours every day and it will also affect the young gamers’ live streams.

Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India & Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation (AESF )
If this is a modified version, I am assuming that they must have incorporated the pointers which were red-flagged by the Government of India. As a federation, we hope they have taken all the measures to ensure the game abides by the necessary regulations in the country as well as we hope it can soon catch the fancy of the gamers and become popular.

Dr Rushindra Sinha, CEO & Founder — Global Esports
So my take on the situation is that right now it’s all speculation and deep-dive analysis into their documentation and privacy policies… I am not a legal expert. What I do know is that the game hasn’t launched yet and there have been no official statements from the publisher directly. I’d really like to hear all these things from them directly before having any comments on it.

Karan Manganani a.k.a Jin Kazama, gamer:
As far as I have seen the New release of BMI, taking into account the User Interface factors, I’ll say that the game has always shown its potential to develop the immense Esports circuit throughout the country earlier and I am predicting that it will prove to be a successful hit. The new age restrictions indicate that proper regulation will be kept so that the kids don’t go insane as we saw. Overall, I like the new announcements.

Abhishek Aggarwal, Co-Founder & CEO , Trinity Gaming, India’s top gaming talent management firm
We hope that it launches soon so that the gaming community can witness the glorious Indian victories in esports. We are not completely sure what Krafton has in store for India but we are hoping for the best. I think it is very valid so as to prevent children from addiction but also help them understand or develop their passion for gaming.