Battlegrounds Mobile India clocks 20 Million pre-registrations in 2 weeks

Battlegrounds Mobile India (BMI), the remodelled version of popular game PUBG, has clocked in 20 million pre-registrations within two weeks, Krafton Inc. the South Korean developer of the game said.

“Developed by KRAFTON, the pre-registration for the game went live on Google Play Store for fans in India on 18th of May. It received 7.6 million pre-registrations on its opening day, crossing 20 million pre-registrations in two weeks,” Krafton said in a release on Thursday.

It added that the launch date of the game will be announced later.

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our Indian fans for their overwhelming response to the BATTLEGROUNDS IP, first developed by me and my team in 2017,” said CH Kim, CEO of Krafton.

“The BATTLEGROUNDS IP received love and acclaim from players worldwide, and KRAFTON will continue to build on the IP. That effort includes bringing amazing content to BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA, and providing an incomparable battle royale experience to our players,” he said.

“We’re looking forward to the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India which is expected to happen by the third week of this month,” Tarun Gupta, founder of esports company Ultimate Battle. “The pre-registration phase has marked great success with 20 million Indian gamers which will continue to grow. We can easily forecast that the game will have above 50 million gamers in the first quarter of its launch.”

In September last year, PUBG Mobile, which was then published in India by Chinese internet giant Tencent, was banned along with other Chinese apps amid a prolonged border standoff between the neighbours.

Following the ban, PUBG Corp, the subsidiary of Krafton, said it would set up an Indian subsidiary and launch a new India specific version of the game. The company, along with parent Krafton, said it would invest $100 million (750 crore) to revive business in its largest market in terms of number of users.

PUBG India Pvt. Ltd. was registered on November 21, 2020 in Bengaluru, Karnataka as a subsidiary with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, naming Krafton’s Head of Corporate Development Hyunil Sohn as one of its two directors.