Over 20 million pre-register to play Battlegrounds Mobile India

South Korean gaming firm Krafton announced that it had received 20 million pre-registrations on Google Play within a span of two weeks for its soon-to-be launched game Battlegrounds Mobile India. Krafton opened up the pre-registrations of the game designed for India on May 18 and saw 7.6 million pre-registrations on the first day, according to a statement. 

The launch date for the game will be announced separately, said the statement. 

“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 in the statement. He further added, “That effort includes bringing amazing content to Battlegrounds Mobile India and providing an incomparable battle royale experience to our players." 

Krafton is also the publisher of PUBG which was banned by the Indian government in September 2020 along with other apps of Chinese origin for being a threat to national security. The company revoked the mobile publishing rights for India from Chinese conglomerate Tencent Holdings after the ban to mark itself out as a South Korean entity. 

In May, Krafton announced that it would launch Battlegrounds Mobile India, stating that it would work with partners to ensure data protection and security. At the time of the announcement, Krafton had also said that the game will be available only to Indian users and will be released with exclusive in-game events such as outfits for the characters and features, apart from conducting esports tournaments and leagues for the game. 

The company had also committed to investing $100 million in India to promote local video games, promotes esports, IT and creating nearly 100 jobs in the country. In March Krafton made an equity investment of $22.4 million in Nazara Technologies backed esports platform, NODWIN Gaming.