BGMI: An NGO calls to ban the game, claims it is same as PUBG Mobile

Prahar, an NGO, has accused Tencent of misleading the government of India. The NGO claims that PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) are the same games. Prahar is currently seeking a ban on BGMI in India. For some context, PUBG Mobile, a Battle Royale smartphone game developed by Tencent, was banned in the country along with 53 other apps in 2020. This gave an opportunity for Krafton to publish their own game called BGMI exclusively for India with some notable changes. The game currently has more than 5 crore downloads on Google Play Store.

However, Prahar has found evidence that suggests both PUBG and BGMI are the same games. The President of Prahar, Abhay Mishra, also wrote a letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for the same. He wrote that documents provided to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) prove that Krafton is listed as a paper manufacturing company in India and not as Krafton from South Korea which is known as a video game developer of PUBG and TERA.

Abhay Mishra urged the government to take stringent actions and ban the BGMI mobile game in India. He reaffirmed that no company called Krafton India exists. Mishra also pointed out that Hyunil Sohn was named as the representative of Krafton for Battlegrounds Mobile India. The document dates back to a board of directors council meeting on November 26, 2021. PUBG India Pvt. Limited also announced Hyunil Sohn as the representative of PUBG India on the same date in its own board meeting.

Prahar’s president questioned that if PUBG and BGMI are different, then how is it possible for one individual to represent both of the games in India. He alleged while talking to Gadgets 360, that Sohn is clearly a representative of Tencent in India. The NGO has called for a ban on the popular alternative to PUBG mobile and it will be interesting to see how the government and Tencent respond to the allegations.

The question has been asked after two months of the China app ban imposed by the government of India. Several mobile games like Garena Free Fire and Clash of Kings were banned. Popular apps such as TikTok, Tencent’s Xriver, Shareit, WeChat, UC Browser, and ES File Explorer were also part of the 54 banned apps.