Famous Indian journalist Faye D’Souza, in collaboration with Animesh ‘Thug’ Agarwal from 8bit Gaming alongside economist Mohan Guruswamy, recently put the future of PUBG Mobile on the table after the popular battle royale game got banned in India.
The discussion also saw the participation of other well-known personalities like law expert Dr. Pavan Duggal and Rishi Alwani, a former writer at NDTV Gadgets 360. For both PUBG Mobile players and mobile game enthusiasts across the country, here’re four key takeaways from the online conference that you may want to know.
1. These days, eSports is a really, really big business
As per a study from Business Insider, PUBG players made around Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 45,000 in India. 8bit Thug even estimated higher numbers due to the booming growth of the game. While all prize pools for professional tournaments are said to reach $8 million (Rs. 58.5 crores), the highest-paid players could earn a whopping $4000-$5000 per month (approximately Rs. 3-3.5 lakh).
2. The move of Indian government has cast a shadow over Chinese mobile developers
The border clash between India and China has led to 59 Chinese apps being banned in June and now, the additional number of banned app goes up to 118, including PUBG Mobile, PUBG Mobile Lite, Arena of Valor, etc. It looks like a clear message to the Chinese officials: If you keep aggressive at the disputed territories, your businesses in India will have to pay the price. In fact, Tencent Games was reported to lose $34 billion in market value since then, now the Chinese tech giant is trying to prove its compliance with Indian authorities and policies.
3. About FAU-G
Just 24 hours after the ban, a desi version of PUBG Mobile called FAU-G was announced and this raised a bunch of doubts from players about the true intention behind the government orders. However, the development of such a game needs enough time before it can make a way into the market, according to Rishi Alwani.
4. Will Indian developers have AAA games?
PM Narendra Modi and several high-profile politicians already emphasized the importance of ‘made in India’ video games, considering that they should take Indian culture and folk tales as a source of content for their products. During this time, we all expect quality games from Indian developers to come soon.
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