Krafton, BGMI Developer, To Expand Presence In India With More Games and Investment
South Korean video game developer Krafton, publisher of the popular Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), plans to launch more games in India in the coming year as it seeks the right strategic synergy to further invest in the country.
Sean Hyunil Sohn, managing director of Krafto India, said BGMI also has more announcements for India ahead of the Diwali festival.
“We have a few games in the pipeline. I think we might even release one or two games this year,” Sohn added in a media interaction here.
The company’s focus has been on developing mobile games tailored to the Indian market.
As of March 2021, the company has invested $140 million in 11 startups, including NODWIN Gaming, Loco, Pratilipi, Kuku FM, One Impression and many others.
The company recently announced a commitment to invest an additional $150 million over the next 2-3 years.
“BGMI is not only a game, it is also a cultural and social experience. Krafton does not look at building prospects; rather, we’ve focused on building community-based fan-first research,” says Sohn.
The company will also host an India-Korea friendly where 8 winning teams from BGIS and 8 Esports teams from South Korea will play BGMI.
Krafton will also release a documentary about the story and development of the Indian Faction in Road To Valor: Empires.
The move comes two years after the Indian government banned Krafton from offering PUBG in the country due to national security concerns.
BGMI was an Indian version of PUBG Mobile, exclusively for players in the country, developed and published by Krafton.
The Indian government later ordered Google and Apple to block the BGMI game app from their online stores under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The South Korean video game developer said on May 30 this year that the video game BGMI is now available to all Indian users on both Android and iOS devices.
The government allowed the game to be reinstated on a three-month trial after the company complied with questions about server locations and data security in the country.
