Battlegrounds Mobile—the long-awaited “Indian” alternative to PUBG: Mobile (which was banned in 2020 following the India-China border skirmishes) has been in closed beta since it was launched last month. For a limited number of players, the chance to experience a game only a year ago had dominated mobile phones in India was a unique one.
On July 2, the gates opened for everyone. At a helmet store in Kochi, the sound of gunfire could be heard ringing out at both attendants had their eyes glued to the game instead of their customers. Battlegrounds Mobile is set to re-take PUBG: Mobile’s throne as the timepass of choice for Indian gamers.
The signs and after-effects of the ban can still be felt. Following numerous complaints about the violence in the game, Korean developers Krafton have opted to substitute the flash of blood that displays on shooting a player in the game with a flutter of green leaves. An audio message stresses that the game takes place in a virtual environment—upon dropping into the game, an on-screen message reminds you that you have entered a virtual world.
If you dislike the change, you can change the colour of blood by visiting settings > graphics and changing the colourblind mode—Normal settings result in green blood, Tritanopia Mode turns blood orange, Protanopia Mode turns ti blue and Deuteranopia makes it pink.
The much-vaunted data transfer option allows old PUBG: Mobile players to get back their level progress and skins (which they may have shelled out thousands of rupees for). The process involves logging in again via Facebook or Google using the same account as your old one, and initiating the data transfer.
In a notice displayed to players on Friday evening, Krafton said the data transfer feature would be temporarily suspended indefinitely after July 6, and urged players to copy their data before that date. Earlier, a December deadline had been given to transfer the data.
Other changes include an age restriction: Players below 18 years of age will need a guardian to approve their installing Battlegrounds Mobile. In addition, players are now limited to playing within Indian servers only--removing the element of international play that was possible before.
Other than these changes, the gameplay remains the same. The familiar lobby music and end-game adds to the sense that little has changed. However, one may need to recalibrate their settings as these were not carried over with the data transfer.
Since going live, the game has already secured 40 million pre-registrations, KRAFTON said on Friday.
