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Rechristened as Battlegrounds Mobile India, the country’s favourite battle royale title has returned — albeit in early access for now — to its largest market after a nine-month-long government-imposed ban.

Gadgets 360 deputy news editor Veer Arjun Singh and deputy video head Cyrus John — both PUBG Mobile veterans — join host Akhil Arora to discuss the new avatar of PUBG Mobile.

We talk about the lack of India-specific introductions, the problems with being India-only, the broken friend lists, and how Battlegrounds Mobile India is essentially old wine in an existing (green) bottle.

Read: Battlegrounds Mobile India first impressions

We also delve into what made PUBG Mobile such a rage in India, the early success of Battlegrounds Mobile India, and why it has (likely) triumphed over global battle-royale king Fortnite.

Lastly, we touch upon controversies new and old — and how Krafton could have handled the launch better, and why the ban (naturally) helped PUBG Mobile’s competition in India.

Read: BGMI pinged Tencent server only ‘to enable game features’, Krafton says

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Write to us at podcast@gadgets360.com

Chapters

• Intro (00:00)
• It’s the same (Chinese) game (00:21)
• Why PUBG Mobile took off (04:54)
• Bans are great for some (07:53)
• 5 million already (09:26)
• Missing friends (12:04)
• India-only (13:48)
• The controversies (15:17)
• No serious attempt (16:56)
• The China servers (20:37)
• How gamers feel (22:29)
• Where’s Fortnite? (25:15)
• Outro (29:35)