BGMI might return in the second quarter of 2023, reveals Samsung securities report

 

Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) was banned on July 28, 2022 under section 69A of the IT act following the directives of the Indian government. BGMI played a big role in the growth of esports in India and the long absence of it has hit the Indian gaming community hard. There were rumours of the BGMI comeback in April 2023 but suddenly vanished following the Krafton’s silence. However, the dying hopes of the Indian gamers on the BGMI return are all set to get a major boost. According to a recent report by Samsung securities, BGMI might make a comeback in the second quarter of 2023. 

The Samsung securities report mentioned that PUBG Mobile India aka BGMI is likely to return in the Q2, 2023 which is between April 1 to June 30. The report further stated the revenue generated by Krafton through BGMI before the game got discontinued in India. Here’s what the report said -  

“PUBG Mobile India expected to resume in Q2, 2023: The company expects PUBG Mobile's India (BGMI) service, which was suspended in July 2022, to resume from Q2. BGMI recorded sales of around KRW 30 billion in the quarter before the service was discontinued, so when the game resumes, it is expected to contribute to a rebound in mobile sales.”

The report also mentioned that the game’s publisher is refraining from marketing the game in the early stages to relaunch the game without provoking the Indian government. 

From the report, “However, as the company is refraining from marketing in the early stages to avoid provoking the Indian government, sales are expected to gradually normalise”.

The hype of the much anticipated BGMI return was at peak in March 2023, thanks to the report by News18 which stated that the game will return soon with some changes suggested by the Indian government. The changes included limited play time, no blood, and other internal changes in the game’s server. The report also suggested that the game will be unbanned only for three months as Krafton agreed to comply with all the rules and regulations of the Indian government. 

It’s been nine months since BGMI got removed from the Indian Play Store and App Store, however, the game’s servers are still running and the players are continuing to play on the 2.0 version. It looks like that Krafton is trying its best to convince the Indian authorities and bring back the game. It would be important to see whether the game will return in the expected timeline of Q2, 2023.