Entertainment
Release date of Battlegrounds Mobile India delayed due to this reason
The PUBG Mobile India version, Battlegrounds Mobile India, is currently up for pre-registration on Google Play Store. It means the battle royale game, the global version of which saw a ban last year, will finally arrive in India. Krafton took almost a year to bring the game back, but after the announcement, things around the launch seem to be moving fast. Now, an insider claims to have information about the Battlegrounds Mobile India launch, which, according to him, will take place in the third week of June.
Abhijeet Andhare, who popularly goes by Ghatak, has tweeted that the release of Battlegrounds Mobile India will happen in the third week of next month. We are looking at a time frame between June 13 to June 19. Ghatak is also the coach for Team Solomid and owns a YouTube channel where he promotes esports. However, Team Solomid and the organisation representing it did not show interest in commenting on Ghatak’s tweets, according to IGN India.
According to some reports, the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India may take place on June 18, which is in line with what Ghatak has tweeted. And it also makes sense because this date is exactly one month after the day when the pre-registration opened. But the usual discourse in the PUBG Mobile community is that the Indian version will arrive on June 10. The basis of this speculation is a poster that Krafton posted some days back. This poster kind of depicts the solar eclipse, and since the next solar eclipse is falling on June 10, people believe that is when the release will take place.
Krafton is yet to make an announcement regarding the release, but, rest assured, both Android and iOS users will get the new Battlegrounds Mobile India, even though the latter will have to wait for some time. The release seems imminent, but a letter highlighting the disapproval over the release of the Indian version of PUBG Mobile by Arunachal Pradesh’s MP Ninong Ering may bring problems. The MP wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him not to allow the game in India.
Now, the Indian government, with its two ministries that actually look after matters such as this: the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, do not allow or reject games from being released. But they can ban an entity for violating the laws — which is what happened last year with PUBG Mobile. So, there is no argument over whether the government will allow the app, but, yes, it can ban it if it finds Battlegrounds Mobile India violating the rules.
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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