Tencent’s PUBG Mobile e-sports director ‘hopes’ to see India re-entering the global ecosystem

PUBG Mobile quickly became extremely popular in India when it was released in 2018. The game reported has over 50 million monthly active users in the country by the end of 2020. With such a huge player base, India is the main focus for the game’s e-sports scene and attracts hundreds of thousands of players. viewers.

All of this was cut, however, when the Indian government forbidden PUBG Mobile for data privacy concerns on September 2, 2020. It dealt a huge blow to the game’s overall player base and effectively ended. PUBG Mobile domestic e-sports.

game has returned as Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) in July 2021. While PUBG Mobile published by Tencent, BGMI was published by the Korean company Krafton, the owner of PUBG IP.

Since its release, there has been a lot of speculation about the return of eSports. Krafton held the first contest, Launch Party, in July, with top creators and teams invited to the tournament. Right after that, it announced Battlegrounds India The Series (BGIS) features open qualifiers and a prize pool of Rs. 10,000,000 (about $134,000).

With this, a lot of players were wondering if BGMI will be part of the world PUBG Mobile e-sports roadmap. In China too, PUBG Mobile available as another game called Peacekeeper Elite strictly regulated by the laws of the country. While China has a different eSports route than the rest of the world, the top teams have a way to qualify. PUBG Mobile Global Championships (PMGC) and other international events.

However, when in 2021 The format of the PMGC has been published Last month, it was revealed that there will be no Indian team participating in the tournament phase despite the BGMI’s release.

Related: PMGC 2021 Finals will be a ‘semi LAN’ event

Dot Esports asked Tencent’s director about PUBG Mobile e-sports, James Yang, on this, who revealed that it is not entirely up to the company.

“I don’t think that’s a question I can answer, it has to be answered by Krafton,” Yang said. “Personally, I hope India gets back into our ecosystem.”

India has yet to witness an official official eSports competition for BGMI. While BGIS was announced in July, the tournament was later delayed for undisclosed reasons. Krafton recently announced that they will be conducting the much-anticipated tournament in December and January.

“BGIS has been delayed and without it, I cannot say too much,” added Yang.

A spokesperson for Krafton did not respond to a request for comment on this article.

However, fans are still hoping to see an Indian team in the PMGC. During the finals that will take place on January 21-23, Tencent has revealed that one team will be invited. Yang declined to comment on the invited slot and told Dot Esports that the invited team will be revealed soon.

It’s no surprise that Tencent would like to see India re-entering the global e-sports roadmap. The final official contest for PUBG Mobile was the first season of PMPL South Asia in May 2020. It peaked at 285,499 viewers, according to E-sports chart. When Indian teams were restricted from competing in the second season due to the game’s ban, this number was reduced to just 42,411 viewers.