Krafton’s plans with Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) were to capitalize and retain the userbase that PUBG Mobile lost after its ban in September 2022. The Indian PUBG Mobile variant rejuvenated the craze for BR gameplay, streamers got their audience back, and the title even saw a rise in its active userbase.

Following the increase in the number of users, Battlegrounds Mobile India jumped into the Indian esports scene, much like PUBG Mobile had done. Fans witnessed tournaments like BGIS 2021, BMOC 2022, and BMPS 2022. However, all the progress BGMI had seen in esports was in vain, as the game was banned on 28 July 2022.

The ban has disrupted the growth of Krafton in India and has also affected the esports ecosystem.

BGMI’s esports ecosystem is facing hiccups following ban

It is worthwhile to note that esports was not a well-known domain in India before PUBG Mobile’s launch. Thus, in a way, PUBG Mobile’s competitive tournaments made the esports scene in India mainstream as well as in several other countries.

The ban on PUBG Mobile reduced the scope for esports-related developments until the launch of BGMI. And now, following the ban of this title, a similar trend can be seen in the ecosystem that was built around Battlegrounds Mobile India esports.

On Twitter, popular esports personalities, such as MortaL, have shared their concerns regarding the sudden ban, also talking about the hopes of people linked to the growth of esports in the country. Here’s what Naman “MortaL” Mathur tweeted:

“Really comes as a shocker because the Growth of Esports in India has been tremendous. All will come down to a stop if something happens to BGMI(Top esports game in India). Trust will be broken. People who HOPED, will remain hopeless. I hope you look into the matter @GoI_MeitY”

At the same time, Skyesports’ CEO, Shiva Nandy, also…