PUBG Maker Krafton Places Another Bet On India With ‘Road to Valor: Empires’

South Korean video gaming company Krafton, which created popular games PUBG and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), is all set to launch a new mobile game in India.

Krafton India and its CEO Sean Sohn shared the teaser of the new gaming title, Road to Valor: Empires, on LinkedIn and other social media channels on Thursday (February 23).

The game has been developed by Dreamotion, a South Korean game development studio acquired by Krafton in 2021 for an undisclosed sum.

The new gaming title is a real-time player vs player strategy game that will also be available in Hindi, with plans to roll it out in other local languages as well.

As per the teaser, players can choose various mythical characters like Athena (goddess of war), Odin (king of Asgard), Medusa, Manticore, Achilles, and Valkyries.

However, Krafton will hope that the new game doesn’t meet the same fate as its earlier games. Last year, Krafton’s battle royale game BGMI was pulled down from Google Play Store and Apple Store. While it was reported that BGMI was pulled down based on directions from the Indian government, neither the company nor the Centre officially disclosed the reason behind it.

Earlier in 2020, the Indian government also banned Krafton’s PUBG Mobile, along with other apps with Chinese connections, under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

For Krafton, India was one of the most significant markets for PUBG Mobile as it accounted for the highest number of downloads out of its total 734 Mn global downloads as of July 2020, according to a Sensor Tower report.

On the other hand, BGMI’s popularity also skyrocketed in India as it touched 100 Mn registered users in India in July 2022.

India’s gaming market was valued at $2.6 Bn in FY22 and is expected to grow to $8.6 Bn by FY27 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27%.

Interestingly, Indians spent an average of 8.5 hours per week on mobile games in FY22. Time spent on top mid-core games (like the now-banned BGMI) was about double of what was spent on top casual games.