If someone asks any gamer about his favourite online game, then the most popular answer would be PUBG Mobile. The game is not just a mode of entertainment, but it has developed a cult following within India and across the world. There were millions of Indians playing the game 24×7 until last year, when the government banned it along with several other applications, citing privacy and data issues. It has been more than a year now since the game was banned, but still, the void created by its absence has not been filled. Time and again there has been news emanating from the developers about the return of the popular game, but nothing really happened. Once again, there is a buzz about the game making an entry in India but this time these claims are more solid and have an official backing of the developers. Hearing about the revival of their “OG” game, gaming enthusiasts are getting really excited to open their parachutes and take a leap of faith into the virtual island of Pochinki.
Rise, Fall and Revival of PubG:
Launched in 2018, PubG mobile a.k.a Player Unknown battleground Mobile became immensely popular within a short span of time. For a mobile game to become so popular was nothing less than a technological revolution in India.
The game grew very significantly in the country because of two reasons — its unique concept where it brought multiplayer battle royale to small screens, and the penetration of cheap 4G data in India. Both the reasons combined gave a strong boost to the gaming industry in India, which rose exponentially only after the arrival of PUBG in the market.
This game has seen tremendous growth worldwide, but most of its revenue came from the young gaming generation of India. It was the first gaming company that telecasted its advertisement on Indian television. The growth streak of PUBG mobile was broken last year when the Indian Government banned the game flagging data privacy concerns. The ban was catastrophic for the Chinese technology major Tencent and Krafton of South Korea, in terms of revenues since both of these were behind the development of the game. As a result, the Chinese Tencent was later removed from the Indian version of the game and Krafton began implying with the Indian standards and prerequisites in order to get a comeback in the world’s biggest gaming industry by numbers.
Adding to this, a positive development was reported in the media, where it is being said that the game could probably return for Indian masses very soon, but with a few changes. The first big chance would be the name, where the new name could possibly be Battlegrounds Mobile India. There have also been reports that this time the servers of the popular game would be totally located within the Indian territory. PUBG’s holding company Krafton had partnered with Microsoft Azure last year to solve server related issues.
But despite getting all things right, it is still very unclear whether Krafton has got a go-ahead from the Indian government or not. On one hand, the Government appears to be in no mood to approve a relaunch of the Indian version of the game, but on the other side, there have been continuous leaks and teasers from the company from its official social media handles. Well, Indian gamers still need to have patience and wait for the official announcement. But, in the meanwhile, they may give some other popular Battle Royales a try.
The leak of the new name of PUBG Mobile India from GemWire stirred PUBG lovers’ speculations over its relaunch. The relaunch of the game in India was speculated a number of times since its ban, but the leaked information seems to be legitimate as it contains information which was taken out from the official PUBG Mobile India website.
The leak has revealed the new name of PUBG Mobile India, and the game will be known as Battlegrounds Mobile India after its relaunch in India. However, according to the sources, the new game would maintain the core gameplay experience from PUBG Mobile.
Krafton had already registered a new website domain, called “battlergroundsmobileindia.in”. The registration was done on April 7. A new teaser video by the name of “India Recall Campaign Motion_v02.mp4” also recently got leaked on the website.
