Krafton says Battlegrounds Mobile India has received over 20 mn registrations
Premium- The company is yet to announce a release date for the game
- Krafton claimed it received 7.6 million pre-registrations on the opening day
South Korean gaming company, Krafton Inc., says it has received over 20 million pre-registrations for its upcoming mobile game, Battlegrounds Mobile India. The company said it received 7.6 million pre-registrations on the opening day, but didn’t announce a release date for the game.
Krafton had first announced the new game on 6 May. Battlegrounds Mobile India is meant to be a replacement for PUBG Mobile, a game that was banned by the Indian government last year. PUBG Mobile, though developed by Krafton, was distributed and run by Chinese Tencent Gaming in India, which is how it landed on the list of apps the Indian government banned over the past year.
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It had also announced a $100 million investment for India earlier this year, which will be used to set up its India-specific operations and hire employees here. The game is supposed to be available in India only, but Krafton claims the intellectual property (IP) was first developed in 2017 and has “received acclaim from players worldwide".
“Krafton will collaborate with partners to build an esports ecosystem, while bringing in-game content regularly, starting with a series of India-specific in-game events at launch, to be announced later," the company announced last month.
PUBG Mobile was banned in India last October. It was one of the more than 200 Chinese apps banned in the country after the Galwan Valley clash with China. Krafton, in turn, stripped Tencent Games of its licence, announcing that it will be taking over control of the game in India. Tencent, though, remains a significant investor in Krafton’s parent company.
The game’s relaunch has also faced some pushback in India already. Arunachal Pradesh Member of Legislative Assembly, Ninong Ering, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 May, asking for the government to stop the company from launching the game in India. The letter claimed that Battlegrounds Mobile India was an effort to “sidestep" Indian laws and “deceive the government and Indian citizens".
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