PUBG Alternatives: What Made PUBG Popular in India?

Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology banned India’s favorite game PUBG Mobile on 2nd September. As a result, Indian esports players and the gaming community started hunting for PUBG alternatives.

Player Unknowns Battle Ground (PUBG) was the fastest-growing game ever. It was the first game of its kind for mobile users in India and it gave birth to the Indian gaming community. Prior to that, who knew about gaming as a career?

Be it representing India in international tournaments or live-streaming the game play on YouTube & Twitch, this game gave recognition to thousands of gamers.

“Enemies ahead!”

“Stay Alert!”

“Get in the car”

If you are a PUBG player then I bet you might have read these sentences in the exact voice as that of PUBG voice chats. If you are getting nostalgic about the battle royale games then I have some great PUBG alternatives for you.

5 PUBG Mobile Alternatives in India

• Shadowgun Legends
• Infinity Ops
• Fortnite
• Free Fire
• Call of Duty Mobile

Although all of them are similar to PUBG, they still can’t beat it in anyway.

Call of Duty Mobile is the best and closest to look as a PUBG alternative because of its quality. Free Fire seems to be a lighter version of PUBG Mobile Lite. Fortnite is also an amazing choice amid all the controversies.

Shadowgun Legends and Infinity Ops are not very popular in India yet they can be considered as great choices if you like such games.

We have high expectations from FAU-G which was recently teased by Akshay Kumar, immediately after the PUBG ban.

Even after having so many PUBG alternatives, we are not able to find the right choice and there are strong reasons. PUBG had set the barrier so high that none of the games has reached that level yet.

But overall, I would say that COD Mobile and Free Fire are the best PUBG alternatives for now.

You might like: 10 Online Multiplayer Games To Play With Your Buddies

I Loved The Concept

Player Unknowns Battle Ground is one of the Battle Royale games where you are dropped on an island along with 99 other players. Total of 100 players find resources, weapons, and kill other players.

The main purpose is to survive until the end. There is a blue circle in the game which acts as a safe zone. It gets smaller and smaller as time passes. Players need to be inside this zone, otherwise, they die.

The company launched Players Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) in December 2017 but it became more popular after April-May 2018. The reason is simple: PUBG Mobile got more popular than PUBG.

6 Reasons That Made PUBG Popular in India

1] PUBG PC being the parent game

PUBG Mobile got its initial hype because PUBG PC was quite popular among the gamers. However, it was not free. When PUBG Mobile was launched for free, what else does a mobile gamer needs?

Initially, gamers found that optimization with a smartphone was too good. It didn’t compromise with the graphics and user experience. And this is where it gained its initial boost. It simply inherited the brand value from its parent.

Of course, PUBG PC has better detailing as compared to the mobile version.

2] It was completely Free

As I mentioned, free game on Android and iOS helped it gain all the popularity. Indians love free stuff and this is how PUBG mobile made to the top grossing game of 2018 on Google Play store as well as iOS Appstore.

If you are not aware, PUBG PC, the original game costs $29.99 which roughly calculates to INR 2200. PUBG Mobile might never make its fortune if it would be a paid version of the game.

Now if the question arises in your mind that how this game makes money? What is the business model of PUBG Mobile if it is completely free?

They sell in-app services. People buy crates, skins, higher points, customization, and many other things. People buy them a lot. Also, PUBG mobile displays tonnes of advertisements in the game itself. Not those annoying pop-ads but the real creative ads which get synchronized inside the game. You might not have noticed but many banners and names are advertising several brands.

It used to earn using other methods as well but let’s keep it for another blog post.

3] Availability of cheap and fast Internet

Let’s admit, the gaming industry in India was practically absent in India. There were hardly a few people who could afford the costly setups and high-speed Internet. Although, the Internet was present it was barely sufficient for gaming. Serious gaming needs high-speed data.

Prior to this revolution, casual games like Candy Crush or racing games which don’t require any internet dominated the market.

I would say PUBG Mobile made entry at the right time. There was no competition from online games and people just started getting free Internet data. Till the competitors arrived, gamers were already looped with PUBG.

4] Possibility of in-game discussions

There was a feature in this game where people could turn on their voice chat while playing the game. This feature was given to discuss among the teammates. Let’s accept that this was the most loved feature of PUBG as compared to other games.

Even I loved to play this game along with my friends while chatting on the microphone. Along with a discussion of the strategies, it is fun to form a team and talk with them.

A typical group of friends consists of 3–4 members and this game made them possible to team up and enjoy the game together while talking.

In this age when the phone calls have been replaced by texting, it felt good to talk to our gang members over voice chat.

5] Easy to play

If you have ever watched any live-stream of PUBG PC or you have played PUBG PC, you won’t deny with me.

PUBG Mobile was way much simpler as compared to its PC version. Several features were added, easy customization was made and difficult challenges were removed.

For instance, there were no glassed windows in PUBG mobile which made it a silent escape for you. In addition, buildings were not having any large number of rooms in PUBG mobile. Likewise, the footsteps of enemies were not displayed on the map of PUBG PC. PC players need to judge by sound using headphones.

[In case you are looking for good headphones: Best Headphones under Rs 1500]

Most importantly, you don’t get an option of TPP (Third Person Perspective) mode in PUBG PC, unlike PUBG Mobile. You have no other option than FPP (First Person Perspective).

These tweaks were made for a reason. Mobile users cannot control the game as compared to PC gamers. Moreover, mobile gamers are not really hard-core gamers. If they kept the difficulty level higher, the users would quit the game instead of engaging with it.

6] It was trending everywhere

Now, this is the most important reason. PUBG was not the only game in this category. There are several Battle Royale games like Fortnite and CODM. Even after coming to app stores, I couldn’t see the same craze for other games.

Although, 1st point played an important because mobile users are more. But the fact is, PUBG is more popular because of the hype it has created.

The Indian gaming community has grown exponentially because of PUBG.

If you visited the Gaming section of YouTube before it got banned, you would find a large number of PUBG gamers as compared to any other game. Indian Gaming Community is the major reason that made PUBG popular in India.

Not only YouTube, but you will also find people around you playing PUBG all day and night. This game slightly got infamous because of the frequent news footage it gets. People committed suicide, killed others, and got into the news for weird results because of the PUBG addiction.

Summarizing

There are several PUBG alternatives available in the market right now. CODM is the closest competitor followed by Free Fire which acts as a lighter version of PUBG Mobile Lite. Fortnite is cool. You can also try Shadowgun Legends and Infinity Ops.

What is the simple reason for PUBG getting popular? It is much addictive and fun.

What game are you currently playing on your smartphone? I’d love to get the suggestions from you 🙂

Further Reading | Winners of Google Play Awards 2019

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