NEW DELHI :
South Korean video game company, Krafton Inc., on Thursday announced a new version of its banned battle royale game, PUBG Mobile, for India. While the company didn’t reveal a launch date for the game, it confirmed prior reports about the name—Battlegrounds Mobile India. The company said the game has been developed by Krafton and will be a multi-player game meant for mobile phones.
Further, the company said Battlegrounds Mobile India will have its own esports ecosystem in the country, including tournaments and leagues. This suggests that the company wants to replicate PUBG Mobile’s success, which saw millions of dollars in tournament prize money being spent in India. It was the first mobile game to draw such a following and investments in the country.
According to Krafton, Battlegrounds Mobile India will have a “period of pre-registration” in India before it’s launched. The game will be available only to Indian users and the company said it will “collaborate” with partners to run the esports ecosystem around the game. It will also add a series of India-specific in-game events at launch, which will be announced later.
“With privacy and data security being a top priority, Krafton will be working with partners to ensure data protection and security, at each stage,” the company said through a press release. Data collection and localization are believed to be among the government’s top concerns about the nearly 200 apps it banned in the country last year. PUBG Mobile was added to a list that consists of short-video app TikTok, Bigo Live, and many more.
Krafton had earlier said that it will invest $100 million in India, to set up operations in the country and hire a team. The company has put out multiple job listings in the past few months for the same. It also donated Rs1.5 crore to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s PM Cares Fund to aid India’s covid-19 relief efforts.
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