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Does PUBG mobile really need any introduction? The popularity of PUBG Mobile in India has been colossal so far. Who doesn’t know about PUBG Mobile now? From a 10-year-old kid to 30-year-old professionals, be a male or a female, be it in school-college or office, everyone at some point heard or played this game within less than one year of its release.
Back in 2013, when Supercell’s Clash of Clans first released globally for Android, then it started gaining popularity and over the years it topped the list of App Store and Google Play Store in different times in different countries. But it did not turn into a social phenomenon like PUBG Mobile is now. The situation was more or less the same for other hit titles like Rovio’s Angry Birds, Imangi Studio’s Temple Run, Kiloo Games’ Subway Surfers and lastly, Niantic's Pokemon Go which was just one step behind to be a social phenomenon. However, PUBG Mobile has surpassed all these popular titles of all time and truly become a social phenomenon.
What makes PUBG Mobile so popular?
A recent survey by Jana on December 2018 shows that nearly 62% of the 1047 Indian respondents played PUBG Mobile. Most of the respondents were male (92.1%) in the 16 to 24 age group (83.1%). Getting to know about the reasons, 46% of the people said, they like PUBG Mobile because it is simply better than other games and 25% of the people said they play PUBG because everyone’s talking about it! And now it has reached a stage where PUBG Mobile is a part of the regular conversations of the school and college goers.
When did it start?
PUBG Mobile (mobile version of PUBG) was first launched globally in March 2018 and if you’re someone who always looks up for new games, just like me, then the game was playable in February 2018. Soon after its launch, the game topped App Store and Google Play Store within 6 months, having more than 100 million downloads and 20 million active daily users.
Where is it leading?
India’s gaming community is changing drastically and India is now seen as an emerging market for gaming as the involvement of eSports is also growing with the time. 80% of the data that is consumed in India is via mobile phone. The Indian gaming market was valued at $ 120 million in 2016 and it is estimated to cross worth $1.1 billion by 2020.
Those who are hooked into PUBG are spending a significant amount of time regularly, mainly during the night time. Not only time but the cash-conscious Indians are also spending money on it buying different types of in-game items even though those will not add any additional benefits other than making the character look charming.
About one-third of the PUBG Mobile gamers are spending money in the game every month. And it comes as a surprise that 11% of them spend more than INR 1,400 every month.
The actual gaming doesn’t end with the fun only. There are many things Indians are still not aware of. But with the intervention of PUBG Mobile in the society, people are slowly getting the exposure. Last October, the parent company of PUBG Mobile, Tencent announced tournament in India and the prize pool was whopping 50 Lakhs! The tournament saw participation from more than 100 colleges across India as the tournament was available for college goers only.
The whole tournament was live-streamed in different social media and the final took place in a special event in Bangalore. That was just the start. Tencent announced another tournament exclusively for India, naming PUBG Mobile India series and this tournament fever will continue until the game dies!
The game has become so popular that people are becoming crazy about it. Jaipur in Rajasthan seen a restaurant is open on the theme of PUBG and it is getting a good amount of customer visits regularly. A Pune based couple was found to shoot their pre-wedding photography on PUBG theme, showing their craziness about the game.
Final Verdict
PUBG Mobile has actually brought a massive change in society and the phenomenon has started towards a better gaming environment. India being considered as a potential market for gaming, investors are giving more attention these days. There are big competitions like ESWC (Electronic Sports World Cup), or Tencent’s self-hosted world tournaments, where India has a long way to go. Even the Asian games held its eSports competitions for the first time and its just the time when PUBG will be added there as well. India also got its first DreamHack (Mumbai, December 2018) event, the biggest gaming event for this year. With the changing environment and encouragement from the different organizations, the scene is slowly in the direction to create the perfect place for eSports.
