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Battlegrounds Mobile India is a variant of PUBG made specifically for India

Pre-registering for the game is only available on Android devices for now

Battlegrounds Mobile India will differ from PUBG mobile in terms of mechanics created specifically to meet the requirements of the Government of India

Krafton Inc, the South Korean game publisher behind the popular game PUBG’s  franchise, today started the pre-registration for its India spin-off title Battlegrounds Mobile India on Google Play Store. This comes nine months after the original PUBG Mobile title was banned in India. Battlegrounds Mobile India’s YouTube channel uploaded a video announcing the pre-registration. 

There is no mention of pre-registration on iOS devices or whether the game will be available for iOS devices at all.

Players who pre-register themselves for the game will be awarded 4 in-game rewards: the Recon Mask, the Recon Outfit, Celebration Expert Title, and 300 AG. These awards will be found in the player’s inventory upon the game’s launch.

To pre-register, Android users need to simply head to the Google Play Store Link and tap on the “Pre-Register” button. Battlegrounds Mobile India is a free-to-play battle royale shooter game where players compete to survive in a large yet ever shortening map to be the last person alive. Players can play solo or in teams of upto four members. Apart from the battle royale game mode, it will feature other multiplayer game modes like deathmatch and team-deathmatch.

Battlegrounds Mobile India is the mobile port of the renowned battle royale PC game Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, which was based on a mod of the video-game Arma. Battlegrounds Mobile India runs on the Unreal Engine 4 which supports a variety of lighting and 3D sound features on mobile devices.

The new Indian version of PUBG has some different in-game mechanics and micro-transactions will be limited to INR 7,000 per user. Users under the age of 18 will have to log in from their parents’ devices and will be only allowed 3 hours of daily playtime. However, it is unclear how the game’s administrators will confirm a user’s age or enforce the time limits. Further, Battleground Mobile India will not feature any blood effects.

The launch of pre-registration has created quite a bit of buzz in the Indian esports community. Tarun Gupta, founder of Ultimate battle said, “This is big! The whole gaming community was anticipating that it would soon happen and here we are with the pre-registrations open inviting all the gamers out there. We are also preparing ourselves and gearing up for the best ever matches to come as Ultimate Battle will include Battlegrounds Mobile India in our All India Esports League and we hope it will shoot up among the players. This announcement is wholeheartedly welcomed and we hope to soon get our hands on it.”

Lokesh Suji, Director, Esports Federation of India & Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation (AESF) said, “With no live sports taking place, this launch has come at an opportune time. The wave of excitement in the Indian esports market is palatable and the excitement levels have gone up by notches ensuring the gamers will be soon able to enjoy the familiar adrenaline rush again with Battlegrounds Mobile India. All thanks to Krafton Inc. as they took the initiative to curate a game that was missed by the Indian gamers. This development surely ensures to boost the Indian Esports ecosystem and will fuel our ambition to become the Esports powerhouse. We are keen on experiencing and exploring it furthermore.”

India’s mobile gaming market is expected to grow and reach $1.6 Bn by 2025 due to the rise in smartphone penetration, growth in internet usage and the rise of casual gaming platforms. But Indian governments have a history of banning games over political controversies. Previously, the roleplaying game Fallout 3 was banned because it featured a creature called “Brahmin”. However, the preceding and successive titles in the series that featured the same creature were not banned.