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Fnatic PUBG Mobile India Team Most Popular in the Country: Report

No PUBG no problem.

byRishi Alwani  

 Updated Feb. 17, 2021, 4:50 p.m.

 Posted Feb. 17, 2021, 4:48 p.m.

     

Despite the ongoing and seemingly permanent PUBG Mobile India ban, London-based Fnatic is India’s most popular esports team according to a report from international research and data analytics group YouGov. Fnatic entered India in 2019 with the signing of Indian PUBG team XSpark.

While its performance in the competitive scene has been mixed that hasn’t stopped it from gaining rampant popularity. YouGov’s report claims that 21 percent of Indian esports fans follow Fnatic with US’ Evil Geniuses having a 20 percent share. This is based on “300,000 interviews per year collected on a continuous basis” in 32 esports markets India included according to a prepared statement from the firm.

“Given the lack of Indian-originated teams competing at a global level, following is fragmented and Western teams are the favourites,” reads YouGov’s report. “One in five (21 percent) avid esports fans in India follow London-based Fnatic, whose popularity may be aided by the team’s signing of XSpark – an Indian-based roster for PUBG Mobile – in 2019. The American esports organization Evil Geniuses is just as popular with Indian esports fans (20 percent), likely due to the success of the team’s former Indian-American Dota 2 player, Universe.”

Furthermore, YouGov’s findings don’t include any details on homegrown teams like Entity which was one of the best in PUBG Mobile, winning internationally as well before partnering with Team SoloMid.

That said, it will be interesting to see how these organisations remain relevant without PUBG Mobile being available officially. The ban on PUBG Mobile has done little to stop Indians from playing the game. According to analytics firm App Annie (via TechCrunch) PUBG Mobile’s MAU (monthly active users) from India is over 15 million.

Since PUBG Mobile’s ban in India, Korean company Krafton took over publishing duties for the game in India from China’s Tencent, added “India” to the name, claimed to commit $100 million in investment for the country, and partnered with Microsoft to run the game’s servers in a bid to enhance data security — all in order to win favour with the Indian government. All of this seems to be for nought.

Sources familiar with the situation speaking to IGN India under the condition of anonymity state that the government has no plans to unban PUBG Mobile.

The lack of a PUBG Mobile India release date hasn’t fazed Krafton though, it recently hired Aneesh Aravind as its PUBG Mobile India Country Manager. Aravind was previously in charge of Tencent’s India operations including PUBG Mobile.

He isn’t the only Tencent alumni at Krafton either, multiple sources familiar with the company’s plans speaking to IGN India have confirmed that Krafton has hired most of Tencent’s India workforce that was involved in running PUBG Mobile in the country.

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