BGMI ban will affect the eSports sector

Devdeep Dhar, also known as Sol Zeref in the gaming community, is concerned that the ban could cause another disruption in the eSports industry and affect the viewership of gamers who earn by streaming BGMI gaming sessions. Is. Dhar said that for Indian eSports, BGMI is currently the biggest sport, which includes all major tournaments. He said that there are also many game streamers who have increased their viewership with BGMI. “They don’t know what to do. Some of them have millions of subscribers. They’re worried about their viewership.”

While the government is yet to make an official announcement on banning BGMI, the app was removed from Google Play and Apple App Store last week under Section 69A of the IT Act, raising concerns that it would be similar to PUBG Mobile. being outdoors.

PUBG Mobile was banned in September 2020 over security concerns with hundreds of apps and games with Chinese links. BGMI is a rebranded version of the game with Indian content and is being distributed by the game’s original publisher, Crafton, a South Korean company. The game was launched in July 2021 after Crafton broke ties with China’s Tencent, which was distributing PUBG Mobile in India, and was accused of sending user data to China by the government.

Although Crafton said it is in talks with the government to resolve the dispute, many feel that if the impasse continues, it will disrupt the gaming and eSports industry, given BGMI’s huge numbers .

Rohit Jagasia, Founder and CEO, Revenant eSports, said, “The BGMI ban will certainly come as a blow to all key stakeholders such as tournament organisations, eSports teams, support staff and most importantly athletes.”

Rohit Agarwal, founder and director of influencer marketing firm Alpha Zegus, explained, “If BGMI is banned, the amount of sponsorship for the tournament could be reduced, and the size of the prize pool could be reduced until the industry doesn’t find a solution.”

He said that when PUBG Mobile was banned, viewership among content creators had dropped by about 70% because the popularity and attractiveness of alternative titles was not the same.

To note the popularity of BGMI, the recently concluded BGMI Masters Series 2022, the first eSports tournament to be broadcast live on TV, garnered 12.3 million views in the first eight days, according to the organizer, Nodwin Gaming, an eSports company.

BGMI Masters Series which had prize money 1.5 Crore is one of several eSports tournaments that revolve around sports. The total prize pool of Crafton’s four official BGMI tournaments for 2022 is 6 crores.

Another tournament, the BGMI Esports Premier League Season 2 LAN Finals, where 1 crore is at stake, scheduled in the first week of August. The large prize money is a sign of BGMI’s popularity among gamers and fans.

According to Dhar, Valorant is the second largest eSports game in India, but its annual prize pool is not even 15% of BGMI.

Agarwal at Alpha Zegus said that currently, the online gaming space has shifted from relying on one big title to being “centered around games”.

Although gamers will love BGMI, Agarwal thinks they will eventually move to a different title, such as PUBG New State, for their streams and tournaments.

Although the ban would be a blow to the sponsors of the gaming tournament, it is all about the eyes. Agarwal said that online gaming is now too commercially attractive to be ignored because of the ban on a game.

Samir Barde, chief executive of the e-Gaming Federation, agreed that BGMI’s popularity will have an impact on the industry, both for gamers and for the industry. But he is optimistic that the industry will find a way to move towards an alternative like they did after the ban on PUBG Mobile.

“The industry should not be stopped for one game,” he said.

Gamers like Dhar also said that currently, there is no option but to try out other games such as PUBG New State, another version of PUBG that was launched by Crafton last November.

first article