Krafton's CFO talks about BGMI in a press interview after quarterly earnings meeting
Krafton CFO Bae Dung-Geun addressed Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) in a press conference. The official mentioned the impact of BGMI ban on the overall mobile game revenue in Q1, 2023.
Krafton's quarterly earnings meeting has concluded and the only topic that we Indians wanted the publisher to address was Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). And yes, Krafton's CFO Bae Dong-Geun addressed BGMI mutiple times during a press interview. As we all are familiar with the current status of BGMI and concerned about its return, the South-Korean gaming giant too is waiting to resume the game's service in the country.
Krafton CFO Bae Dong-Geun said that mobile game earnings have been affected following the suspension of BGMI in India. He further mentioned that things will be back on track once the good news arrives regarding the game. The CFO also stated that he isn't sure whether this is a sufficient signal of what one would have expected. Here is the complete statement by Bae Dong-Geun -
"If we are also able to get some good news regarding BGMI, I believe that Krafton mobile performance will turn for the better. But with regards to whether this is a sufficient enough signal as you would have wanted to expect, I'm not quite sure, But as a CFO, I think this is actually my take on this. Yeah, so you can enjoy it. The sales were also lower, once we resume our services, the number will begin to increase. We reported lower year over year growth mainly due to the suspension of Battlegrounds Mobile India Services in India."
Krafton CFO also mentioned the sales on yearly basis post BGMI suspension. He said that the sales on yearly basis were lower when compared to Q4, 2022 and again stated BGMI suspension as the prime reason behind it. "The numbers will begin to increase once the ban is lifted from the game," said Bae Dong-Geun.
These statements from Krafton's CFO clearly indicate that BGMI played a massive role in revenue generation for the publisher prior to the ban. Since the game is not available, the revenue generated from mobile games has also dropped.
Now, coming back to the main point, when will BGMI return? Well, Krafton CFO's statements were primarily focused on the revenue generated from mobile games with BGMI being the highlighting part of it. This clearly indicates that the South-Korean company is still working to unban the game and get their earnings back on track. In August 2022, Bae Dong-Geun said that Krafton will cooperate with the Indian authorities to bring back the game.
Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) was banned in July 2022 under section 69A of the IT Act. It's been nine months and the Indian gaming community is still waiting for the game to return. It would be important to see how long does Krafton take to resume BGMI services in India.