Esports | PUBG Mobile's exponential growth in India

Esports has now become a household name all over the world, but in India it is slowly building up on a daily basis, it is like Kumbhakarna being woken up from his deep slumber. However, unlike kumbhakarna who slept for six months at a time, esports and its growth is here to stay in India. It is a sleeping giant slowly being awoken and once awake, it is going to take the world by storm in terms of its sheer numbers.

The shift from PC gaming to mobile gaming has taken place ever since PUBG Mobile launched in February 2018, a free to play battle royale which requires a smartphone to play. No high end PC, no high end graphic card, just your smartphone that enabled an individual to play the game. As the game is easily accessible PUBG Mobile has taken the Indian mobile gaming market by storm with an average of 33M users playing the game.

Since the introduction of the game, there has been a rise in the number of teams being formed for competitive play leading to multiple minor and major tournaments being organized by major players with the recently concluded ESL India Premiership 2020 being one of the major tournaments, PUBG World League having started recently showcases how big PUBG Mobile as an esport is and can be.

Speaking of the PUBG World League and its impact on Indian gamers, India has 7 teams in this league out of the 20 competing teams and the highest player representation in terms of numbers (39/106), which showcases that PUBG Mobile is here to stay and potentially become the biggest esport title in India competing with the likes of CSGO and Dota 2.

International teams like Fnatic and TeamSoloMid who are successful giants in the global esport industry and have won international trophies have made their foray into Indian esports which shows that India as an industry is ready to take steps into the global market. Fnatic acquired an Indian PUBG roster and TSM partnering with Entity gaming to form a partnership called TSM-Entity which will field its PUBG Mobile roster.

Naman Mathur aka Mortal (Source- My Esports Globe)

The growth of PUBG Mobile personalities like MortaL, Ghatak, Dynamo Gaming who have managed to entice audiences with their mechanics, personalities and have now become global representatives for the Indian PUBG esport scene that is growing rapidly with Youtube being a preferred streaming platform for these personalities.

India is neatly poised to become a powerhouse in Asia first and then make strides into the global ecosystem, it will be interesting to see how the PUBG Mobile Esports scene develops post pandemic and what steps this sleeping giant will take to put itself on the map.