Bae Dong-geun, CFO of the South Korean video game developer Krafton, stated on August 11 that the company will work closely with the Indian government to find a means to bring back the country's suspended battle royale game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI).
"We fully appreciate and comprehend the Indian government's concerns, and we have been actively managing the service in accordance with strict monitoring and data security regulations. We will work together with the authorities to develop solutions so that users in India may continue to enjoy BGMI "During the conference call for the company's profits, he said.
On July 28, BGMI was removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store as a result of a temporary government directive. Additionally, the app was taken down from websites run by third parties, including BGMI's website and Codashop.
The South Korean company Krafton's flagship game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) was banned in September 2020 along with 117 other China-linked apps due to data security concerns, making this the second time that Krafton is dealing with a ban on a mobile game title in the nation.
Since then, Krafton has severed connections with its Chinese publishing partner Tencent and taken over all publishing duties in India. Additionally, it established a subsidiary and invested around $100 million in a number of local businesses in industries like entertainment, esports, and video games.
Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar recently told Moneycontrol that any app that has been suspended is still available "We will take down any data that is sent back in violation of our regulations. It is unrelated to the nation from whence the software was developed ".
Before the suspension, Krafton asserted that in July, BGMI had more than 100 million customers who were registered in India. From July 2021 to July 2022, it had racked up approximately $33 million in in-app spending, according to figures app intelligence firm Sensor Tower gave with Moneycontrol.
In the second quarter, Bae Dong-geun stated, "We expanded paid content offerings, broadened the user base through own and offline cooperation in the local market, and provided a battle royale experience specific to BGMI."
He also said that the BGMI Masters series, which recently became the first esports competition to be shown on television, had almost 24 million spectators. Between June and July 2022, Nodwin Gaming held the competition, which Star Sports 2 televised.
Additionally, the competition was broadcast live on the mobile lockscreen content platforms Glance and Loco, which stream video games. Nearly 200 million users watched the event, he added, counting internet spectators.
worldwide performance
For the first half of the year, Krafton's revenues increased overall by 3% to 946.7 billion Korean won (about $727.7 million), while its net income increased by 31% to 439.2 billion Korean won ($337.6 million).
The mobile division of the South Korean gaming juggernaut, which reported revenues of 715.6 billion Korean won ($550 million), or 75.6% of its overall revenues, posted revenues.
Revenues from the company's PC division totaled 194.7 billion Korean won ($149.6 million), or 20.6 percent of the total. In the meantime, its console division recorded earnings of 24.6 billion won ($18.9 million), or around 2.6 percent of its overall first-half earnings.
Asia makes for 85.3 percent of Krafton's H1 2022 sales, followed by markets in North, South, and Western Europe (8.4 percent), and Korea (5.6percent).
