Yesterday we spoke about all the good things about BGMI, here we are with another piece of news where BGMI is apparent to go off the app stores in India. It has been announced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to put a stop to the downloads of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), and if we look at it currently, it is not available to download on Apple or Android. Developed by the South Korean giant Krafton, BGMI came as a ray of hope for battle royale game lovers after the PUBG ban in September 2020. The same app has been quoted as the reason to pull out of BGMI since it has been alleged that it was a rebranded PUBG.
People across the gaming spectrum are upset with the news and looking for alternatives. There is no final verdict from the government whether the game is finally deleted from the app stores but according to Reuters, MeitY has applied Section 69A of the Information Technology Act to remove the app. This same act was used when there was the removal of 320 apps from India since June 2020. This game will turn out to be the 57th game in line to be banned. All these apps have been allegedly quoted as national danger, with Chinese origin in picture. BGMI has been pulled out just after 5 months of banning Garena Free Fire, a Chinese app.
Background of BGMI Arrival in India
MeitY first banned PUBG Mobile in September 2020 because of concerns about national security and data privacy, but not necessarily because of border tensions with China. Even though Krafton owns the PUBG trademark, the Chinese gaming giant Tencent made PUBG Mobile and released it in India. At the time it was banned, PUBG Mobile was the most popular game in India in terms of both revenue and downloads, and it had been a key factor in the growth of mobile gaming in the country. The ban had a big effect on the battle royale segment and the gaming industry as a whole. Over time, Garena Free Fire met the unmet demand for battle royale games.
Krafton said in November 2020 that BGMI will start in July 2021. Krafton self-published the title, introduced local servers to keep user data securely, and announced it would spend over $100 million in the Indian gaming, esports, entertainment, and IT industries, which it did. The game launched to 40 million pre-registrations and 16 million daily active users due to the popularity of battle royale games in here.
BGMI was a Success Right from the Start
Krafton’s BGMI was on route to surpass PUBG Mobile’s 200 million downloads before its suspension in September 2020. The game immediately became India’s #2 highest-grossing mobile game with over 100 million downloads in its introductory year, and its 2022 income was predicted to top PUBG Mobile’s peak year. BGMI is also the premier esports title in India, with Krafton investing significantly in the Battlegrounds Mobile India Pro Series, an official league for Indian teams with a US$260,000 prize pool.
BGMI immediately became India’s #2 highest-grossing mobile game with over 100 million downloads in its introductory year, and its 2022 income was predicted to top PUBG Mobile’s peak year.
There was a lot of support for the game from broadcasters, esports organisations, and teams, and it was heavily covered at major tournaments. In addition to becoming the first LAN tournament ever broadcasted on Indian television, the BGMI Masters Series event drew an audience of 12.3 million people.
Effects of BGMI ban
We have to agree on this that the Indian esports industry will be impacted with this ban if BGMI fails to return in the stores in the near future, as predicted by Niko’s Asia Esports Tracker. According to sensor tower, battle royale games are the major set of area where players spend the most, amounting to almost 1/3 of the total game spending in 2021. After the ban on Garena Free Fire and BGMI, which together accounted for about 95% of the game spending in India, gamers are left with only the title of Free Fire MAX, available on Google Play.
Call of Duty: Mobile (Activision Blizzard) is already well-established in the market, and its battle royale mode has helped it maintain a spot in the top 10 of the game revenue table. Core battle royale games like Apex Legends Mobile (Electronic Arts), New State (Krafton – Title was originally PUBG New State), and Farlight 84 (Lilith Games) may also gain with this ban but we have to wait for the charts to showcase the real benefactors.
Stay tuned to iLLGaming to find out more on this topic.
