Uncertainty around BGMI ban plays spoilsport for e-sports industry

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Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), one of the most popular online games in India, has been removed from Google and Apple app stores, making many believe that the game is banned in India. This has led to tournaments being delayed, gamers switching to new games and players worrying about how to deal with the situation.

A BGMI gamer called Parichay “Paradox” Bansal said that the speculation around the banning of BGMI will have a big impact on him as a player and that dealing with the current uncertainty is worrying him. This is why he plans to focus more on streaming until there is clarity on BGMI ban.

“I stream BGMI almost regularly, except sometimes when we have an ongoing important tournament. I stream on my YouTube channel named Paradox Gaming and also on the Loco (game streaming platform). I won't be pausing streaming due to the said ban, I'll just take a couple of days off and go back at it. Until the ban is confirmed, I think streaming BGMI makes sense,” he said.

If there is a ban, Shivam Rao, co-founder, Trinity Gaming India, marketing partners to BGMI, said it will impact the income of gamers. “Many skilled gamers have left their families, homes and traditional jobs to build and pursue their careers as professionals. Such a ban will make their future and careers uncertain. Options for players and gamers will reduce drastically. If the ban decision holds, we will probably see a decline in the number of gamers and its communities across India,” he said.

Gamers like Bansal who have taken part in most of the BGMI tournaments held so far used to earn over $30,000 in prize money as a team.

Impact on games and gamers

BGMI gamers and tournament organisers will suffer the most, said Rohit Agarwal, founder and director, Alpha Zegus, a marketing agency specialising in gaming and lifestyle and which manages the portfolio of BGMI content creators.

“Last time during PUBG (PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds) ban, all the e-sports players were sitting at home doing nothing. For them, it is a difficult situation and switching to another game means starting from scratch. And they are doing this over and over again,” he said.

Esports Premier League (ESPL), a franchise-based e-sports league, on Monday announced the postponement of the finals of the second season due to BGMI being removed from app stores. The second season, with a prize pool of Rs 1 crore, was scheduled to take place between August 1 and 5.

“We are constrained to put ESPL Season 2 on hold in light of the government’s directions and the prevailing circumstances. This is an unfortunate situation for all e-sports enthusiasts,” said ESPL in a statement issued on Monday.

Along with organisers, Krafton, a South Korean developer and distributor of video games, has been planning many tournaments in India. Its 2022 roster included four pro and semi-pro tournaments with a prize pool of Rs 6 crore in total.

However, due to the current uncertainty around BGMI, Krafton is likely to pause its upcoming tournaments. “I think they (the tournaments) will be on hold until we hear an official communication from Krafton or the government about the future of the game. It is a setback for the Indian e-sports industry,” said Rohit Jagasia, founder and CEO, Revenant Esports.

He added that BGMI tournaments drive the best viewership in India.

“Lately, we have seen massive eight-figure prize pool tournaments which led non-endemic brands to invest in the ecosystem, which led to more sponsorship,” he said.

Trouble for streamers

In July this year, BGMI surpassed 100 million registered users and is considered to have the highest viewership amid mobile games in India. And this makes the game lucrative for content creators who stream games on platforms like YouTube and game streaming platforms like Loco and Rooter.

BGMI content creators who attract more viewers, record higher revenues through streaming compared to streamers of other games. “Their (BGMI streamers) earnings could range from Rs 20,000-30,000 on the lower side to Rs 8-10 lakh on the higher end, depending on the viewership. For most BGMI creators, this becomes a major revenue model with a 50 percent contribution to their overall revenue pie,” said Agarwal.

Currently, some streamers are continuing to stream BGMI while others are switching to different games.

“A similar thing had happened in 2020 when PUBG was banned. Then some five or six months back there was a Free Fire ban. We have been talking to our creators to diversify as it has happened in the past. So there have been quite a few creators who have diversified in the last three to four months. Viewership does differ as BGMI gets higher viewership compared to other games,” Agarwal added.

He said that hard-core BGMI gamers are choosing to shift to PUBG New State, which is aesthetically the same but does not enjoy the same popularity that BGMI does.

Apart from the impact on viewership in case of a BGMI ban, endorsement deals are likely to see a drop too as many brands focus on the size of the audience. “There are certain brands that do endorsement deals only from an eyeballs standpoint. So, for such a creator they will need to ensure that they are maintaining the same viewership they were getting for BGMI,” said Agarwal.

The top 20-30 BGMI content creators see brand deals in the range of Rs 50,000 to Rs 3-4 lakh. These deals make up 20 percent of the revenue of BGMI game streamers, he added.

Slowdown in e-sports industry

Talent managers and e-sports platforms are worried this uncertainty will demotivate players as well as content creators, leading to the industry’s growth slowing.

The number of e-sports players doubled from 300,000 in 2020 to 600,000 in 2021, according to an EY-FICCI 2022 report. The revenue of the industry grew from Rs 750 crore in 2020 to Rs 970 crore last year.

“This potential stay will hamper the whole e-sports ecosystem—consumers, businesses, stakeholders, jobs and much more. There is a large investment riding on startups, tournaments and game streaming, it's a trickle effect waiting to happen,” said Sagar Nair, co-founder and CEO, Qlan, a networking app for gamers.

Last year, Krafton had invested nearly $100 million in local video games, e-sports and entertainment startups in India. It had invested $22.5 million in Nodwin Gaming, $9 million in Loco and $5.4 million in Nautilus Mobile, among others.

Nazara Technologies' Esports arm Nodwin Gaming this year brought e-sports for the first time to TV with BGMI Master Series, which recorded 12.3 million views in the first eight days of broadcast.

While BGMI was on the cusp of exploding and taking e-sports mainstream, “the interim stay order has put everything on hold for now”, said Jagasia.