Battlegrounds Mobile India likely to boost esports: Experts

New Delhi: The gaming fraternity in India has welcomed South Korean video game company, Krafton Inc's announcement on Thursday to launch the new version of its banned battle royale game, PUBG Mobile, for India. The game -- 'Battlegrounds Mobile India -- will be a multi-player game meant for mobile phones.

Experts said that the new version of popular PUBG Mobile game, whose date of launch is yet to be announced, is expected to further boost the growing esports space in India benefitting multiple stakeholders, including gamers, esports platforms as well as content creators.

Lokesh Suji, director, Esports Federation of India & vice president of the Asian Esports Federation (AESF) said that Krafton has considered the Indian requirements and has modified the game and this will surely fuel the Indian esports ecosystem.

"However, I hope Krafton has plugged all the necessary approvals to bring back this popular game. We request other game developers as well to follow a similar model and customise India specific games thereby create more value for the Indian esports community and encourage the local gamers and esports athletes to take this sport as a viable career option," he added.

Krafton said Battlegrounds Mobile India will have its own esports ecosystem in the country, including tournaments and leagues. There will be a period of pre-registration in India before its launch. The game will be available only to Indian users and the company will also add a series of India-specific in-game events at launch.

Tarun Gupta, founder of esports platform Ultimate Battle said that Battlegrounds India, a PUBG Mobile variant's India launch has been highly anticipated in recent months.

"At Ultimate Battle, we are excited to hear about this and will be adding Battlegrounds India on the platform as soon as it launches. We forecast to see the downloads cross the one million mark in the first week of the launch," he added.

Apart from gamers, Battleground Mobile India is also expected to boost content creators community associated with online gaming space, said Shivam Rao, co-founder & COO, Trinity Gaming, a gaming talent management firm. Content creators in the gaming space bring fans quality content (largely through videos) to keep them entertained, informed, or educated about esports and various tournament related developments.

"We believe this time, it is not just a game it's an opportunity for the whole gaming community to grow and increase their brand value in the industry. We believe the content creators community will get a major boost once the game will be launched and it will fuel our ambition of creating a unique ecosystem for the gaming content creators to make a serious career out of their passion," he noted.