In what may be an astonishing milestone for PUBG Mobile’s India avatar, Battlegrounds Mobile India saw a whopping 20 million pre-registrations on the Google Play Store in two weeks. In a statement, Krafton said that the response to the upcoming battle royale game — which is likely to resuscitate PUBG Mobile in India’s gaming realm — has been overwhelming. The pre-registrations for Battlegrounds Mobile India opened on May 18 with much pomp and show. The company even roped in Bollywood actor Arshad Warsi, in addition to prolific gaming content creators, for the trailer launch last month.

Krafton said that Battlegrounds Mobile India received 7.6 million pre-registrations on its opening day itself, which is more than one-fourth of the total pre-registration recorded so far. The single-day estimate for pre-registration is far bigger than what the so-called Indian rival FAU-G received on the opening day, which was 1 million. Of course, the high numbers for Battlegrounds Mobile India represent high anticipation in Indian gamers, some of whom did not resort to playing the game using a VPN after last year’s ban. For the other fraction, it is just a reassurance that they will be able to play the game with less burden.

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our Indian fans for their overwhelming response to the Battlegrounds IP, first developed by me and my team in 2017,” said CH Kim, CEO of Krafton. “The Battlegrounds IP received love and acclaim from players worldwide, and Krafton will continue to build on the IP. That effort includes bringing amazing content to Battlegrounds Mobile India, and providing an incomparable battle royale experience to our players,” he added.

Battlegrounds Mobile India pre-registration is only open on Google Play Store, meaning only for Android phones right now. However, Krafton confirmed that the iOS counterpart is in the works and may arrive soon. The launch date, however, is not officially confirmed. But, if we go by a flurry of rumours, the Battlegrounds Mobile India release may take place on June 18. Some popular YouTubers from India, such as Ghatak and Maxtern, as well as a report by IGN India, claim a June 18 launch, which makes sense because it lies exactly one month after the pre-registration opening date.

On the achievement of Battlegrounds Mobile India, Tarun Gupta, founder of Ultimate Battle, India’s first-ever one-stop online esports platform said, “We can easily forecast that the game will have above 50 million gamers in the first quarter of its launch. The cult for this enormous success came as it’s the favourite game of Indian gamers which is making a much-awaited coming back.”

Shivam Rao, co-founder & COO of Trinity Gaming, one of India’s leading gaming talent management firms, said, “This comes with no surprise as Indian esports lovers were eagerly waiting for it. The highly anticipated game is welcomed by the esports gaming fraternity, as they seek to enjoy a similar rush again. This opens a whole new possibility for our gaming content creators who will be able to engage and entertain their followers as Battlegrounds Mobile India tends to have a dedicated following base.”