New Delhi: Since its premiere on July 2 in India, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), PUBG Mobile's India-specific incarnation has received over 10 million (1 crore) downloads on the Google Play app store. The action mobile game had already surpassed 20 million pre-registrations in just two weeks after its May release on Google Play.
The game has not been made available on iOS-enabled Apple iPhones yet and launch specifics from its South Korean creator Krafton are likewise unknown.
BGMI's recent success does not come as an absolute shock, considering the original game, PUBG Mobile, was extremely popular in India before being banned in September 2020 for security grounds. As per specifications provided by the market, the original PUBG Mobile has more than 180 million downloads and 33 million users in India alone. In March of this year, PUBG reached 1 billion downloads worldwide.
In the meanwhile, Battlegrounds Mobile India users can access their previous progress, including rank, level, and assets, by logging in using the same social media profile/email ID. Krafton has also offered a reward for 10 million downloads: a Constable Set that stays with users indefinitely.
Basically, the game has the same graphics and gameplay as the original, with a few modifications to conform to Indian rules. BGMI emphasises that this is a simulated game, implying that everything happens in a virtual universe and has no sense of reality in any way.
As the players go through the game, the reminders will appear again and again. Out of the two prompts displayed, one asks you to verify your age, while the other asks the player to take a break from continuously playing. Moreover, there is no mention of the word "kill" or any variants of it; instead, when players shoot down an opponent in one of the maps, it says "finish" or "defeat."