New State, the next battle royale game from Krafton, is here after months of testing. The new game also comes only a few months after Battlegrounds Mobile India, the desi version of PUBG Mobile, was released amid much fanfare in India. But it is more important for Krafton, the company that owns the PUBG IP. That is because it has finally managed to bring a battle royale game with the “PUBG” name after last year’s ban. So, this time PUBG has returned for real.
Last year, the Indian government banned PUBG Mobile, citing a potential threat from apps like this because of their linkage to China. PUBG Mobile is a game owned by Tencent, which is one of the biggest tech companies in China. Krafton, which originally owns the intellectual property rights to PUBG, henceforth, severed ties with Tencent in what it thought could be a way to tiptoe around the ban. It succeeded with the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India at the expense of losing the “PUBG” name in India.
As things stand, Krafton’s stance on exposure to elements like bloodspill through its games is not clear because, while Battlegrounds Mobile India refrains their inclusion, PUBG: New State, on the other hand, shows them without warnings or any prompts. But if I were to find a similarity in this aspect, the privacy policies of both games require underage players to provide parents permission in order to play.
go ahead with the PUBG: New State launch in India. Nevertheless, the game is here. And this shows that Krafton now feels the negative sentiments around the name PUBG have nearly vanished among Indians. This is big for Krafton because it has been through all the blood, sweat, and tears to make sure its smash-hit battle royale game does not entirely leave India after last year’s jolt.
Battlegrounds Mobile India, which is PUBG Mobile only under a different garb to appease naysayers, is already one of the top-downloaded games on both the Google Play Store and the App Store. And it will now co-exist with PUBG: New State, the anticipation around which has been immense in India. Krafton, hence, now has a game, named after the PUBG entity, available in India.
There are many improvements that Krafton has made to enhance the experience of playing PUBG: New State as compared to what you get on PUBG Mobile or Battlegrounds Mobile India. Those include gadgets such as drones and some interesting features such as the ability to store loot and weapons in the trunk of a vehicle, allowing players to equip themselves after they respawn and share loot with teammates. The first 8×8 map is called Troi and it will allow 100 players to land to fight the match.
