Can you image mobile gaming without thinking of PUBG Mobile now? We take a look back at what really made the game so popular among gamers in India.
Even till a year back, mobile gaming was still a casual affair. It would never match up to the intensity games like DOTA, Counter Strike and FIFA are played by people. Then came PUBG Mobile and a bunch of other battle royale games tailored for smartphones. Tencent’s multiplayer shooter certainly caught the fancy of smartphone users in India and the game quickly skyrocketed in popularity, sometimes to its own deterrent even. It has now been a year since PUBG Mobile launched in India, and in this short span of time, the game has managed to make history.
The game has over 30 million active players battling it out, without even considering China. A lion’s share is in India, USA, Indonesia and other South East Asian countries. It has crossed over 100 million downloads on both iOS and Android and has won multiple awards. It’s also free to play and is engaging to play, even in devices that cost less that Rs 10,000. It’s easy to see why PUBG Mobile enjoys the cult status it has now gained. Never before has a multiplayer mobile game been so engaging, and as many call it, addictive. To have 100 people play together to be the last man standing reeks of virality, and PUBG Mobile has taken full advantage of it. There’s also Fortnite in the mix, but the game didn’t hit the chord with players in India as much as PUBG Mobile did.
Now that a year has passed, we take a look back at how the game managed to make history in smartphone gaming —
Competitive multiplayer gaming comes to mobile
Before PUBG Mobile, the most popular mobile games would include Subway Surfer, Temple Run, Candy Crush, Clash of Clans and the likes. You can’t imagine those games played competitively. But the one-year old game did. In a statement released by Tencent, the company said PUBG Mobile India Series 2019 was the largest e-sports event India has ever seen. The game saw participation from over 575,000 players and had 400,000 games played across in-game and online qualifiers. A Rs 1 crore prize money was distributed among the winners. PUBG Mobile tournaments have become a regular affair. There are now a host of platforms hosting daily matches with prize money up for grabs.
Players streaming their way to the bank
There is now a fast expanding community of gamers in India who rely on streaming PUBG Mobile as their only source of income. Popular gaming tournament platform GamingMonk told Digit.in, over 10 million players play PUBG Mobile daily in India. Players like Naman Mathur A.K.A Mortal, part of team SoUL, who won the PUBG Mobile India Series 2019, garnered over 800 thousand followers on YouTube in less than year streaming PUBG Mobile. While Mortal streams mostly in English, there are also a host of players streaming in regional languages. Most of these streamers rake in a lot of money through sponsorships, donations and more.
A game that keeps on giving
The best thing about PUBG Mobile is the fact that’s it’s so dynamic. Right when things start to become a bit monotonous, the developer pushes a new update to bring new maps, weapons, vehicles, costumes and more. When the game first launched in India back in March 2018, Erangel was the only map you could play in. Then came Miramar, followed by Sanhok and then, Vikendi. With each new map, Tencent introduced new weapons and costumes. Players came up with specific strategies to conquer each map while the variety ensured the game never got boring. In fact, to celebrate the 1-year anniversary, PUBG Mobile introduced a new rifle in Vikendi and a new vehicle in Sanhok.
The rise of gaming smartphones
Hot on the heels of PUBG Mobile becoming the most popular mobile game, smartphone developers opened up a new genre of devices that are distinctly made for mobile gaming. We saw phones like the Asus ROG Phone with its speed-binned Snapdragon 845 processor, air triggers and a host of accessories, while Black Shark and Razer came out with their own devices aimed squarely at mobile gamers. While PUBG Mobile can be played in just about any smartphone right now, the best experience is offered by these gaming devices that have software optimised to offer better gameplay. In fact, Huawei came up with a whole new way to improve gaming on its devices called GPU Turbo which became a big selling point for the company’s devices.
Special events and collaborations
It’s not just new maps. Tencent kept things interesting with new collaborations like it did with Mission Impossible – Fallout and more recently with Resident Evil. While the former only had the Mission Impossible theme song in the lobby, the partnership with Resident Evil brought a new game mode called “Survive Till Dawn” which has zombies attacking you and growing in strength from day to night.
Tencent released a look back at how PUBG Mobile took 2018 by storm. You can watch it below —
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Subhrojit Mallick
Eats smartphones for breakfast. View Full Profile
