PUBG in India : PUBG owner now talking to Airtel to bring back PUBG Mobile to India

PUBG in India : PUBG owner now talking to Airtel to bring back PUBG Mobile to India

PUBG Mobile has started having conversation with telecom giant Airtel for the India rights. According to a report by Entrackr, PUBG is in early conversation with handing over distribution rights for the Indian market to Airtel. The Sensor Tower Data has shown that PUBG has seen 26% fall in global downloads in the month of September and the primary reason for the same is the ban on PUBG in the Indian market.

This has led to PUBG Corporation upping the ante on finding right India partner as soon as possible. The report quoting sources has claimed that PUBG-Reliance Jio conversation has failed to reach any conclusive stage and that is the reason PUBG promoters have started exploring other opportunities in the market.

According to Entrackr “PUBG is in early conversation with Airtel for handing over distribution rights to the telecom giant. This desperation shows that PUBG has been trying hard to get back into the Indian market.”

The report further says that , “The gaming platform is also busy in raising a lean team in India. It has been interviewing candidates with experience of under 4 to 6 years,” Airtel or PUBG refused to comment on the development.

It is worth mentioning that the PUBG Mobile was banned by the Indian government on 2nd Sep which led to PUBG’s Korean promoters pulling out of relationship with Tencent for the Indian market.

PUBG is concerned because global downloads for the game has fallen by 26% in Sep

As expected the global downloads for PUBG mobile have shrunk by 26% post India ban. Sensor Tower had earlier reported that India constitutes 185.5 million, or 24%, of PUBG Mobile’s total downloads, the highest in the world. June to August were the best months for PUBG in terms of global downloads but in September the pace was cut-short by 26% according to Sensor Tower Data.

The app garnered around 10.7 million downloads globally in September, a 26.7% fall in the number of installs from 14.6 million in August. It’s worth noting that India has been contributing around 30-35% to PUBG’s overall downloads and with India being banned PUBG is facing the heat.

PUBG Ban, who is getting benefitted the most ? Most downloaded app in India

Ludo King the casual board game was the most downloaded gaming app in India in September with 10.3 million installs.

InnerSloth’s Among Us found an opportunity and has grabbed it to reach the peak with 85 million mobile downloads. This is 13 times more than the downloads of Q3 of 2019. Among Us has created a significant buzz on social media with memes and its growth during the months of August and September has been phenomenal. The game had around 9.5 million downloads followed by battle royal game Garena Free Fire with 9.4 million downloads during the period

Garena’s Free Fire is the only battle royale game that made it to the top five list, but its installs declined five percent year on year.

The bans Impact can clearly be seen but India has not been able to capitalize on the ban to produce an alternative to PUBG so far. Meanwhile many battle royale alternatives do exist which players and the esports tournament platforms have shifted to.