Entertainment
Huge update regarding launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India: This is all we know
Lakhs of PUBG Mobile India fans in India are waiting eagerly for the launch of Indian version of PUBG Mobile – Battlegrounds Mobile India. But ever since Battlegrounds Mobile India was announced, people were busy looking for similarities with PUBG Mobile.
However, it seems like the company itself has admitted that Battlegrounds Mobile India is similar to or the same as PUBG Mobile. This was done by Krafton CEO CH Kim in a recent statement to the media according to an IGN India report.
“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,” Kim said in a statement on the game’s website on June 3.
“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 said.
Krafton was called Bluehole in 2017, but the Battlegrounds IP mentioned by Kim could only refer to the popular battle royale game PUBG, according to the report, which states that it was the only game title launched by the company that year.
Kim’s statement that the company was going to build on the same IP seems to suggest that the Battlegrounds Mobile India game could be a copy of the original PUBG mobile game, according to the report.
While this may not be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, it is somewhat significant since this is the closest Krafton has come to admitting that Battlegrounds Mobile India is basically a refashioned PUBG Mobile.
Meanwhile, speculations are rife that Battlegrounds Mobile India developer Krafton would release the game in June but Krafton is yet to make any official announcement in this regard.
It is to be noted that within few weeks since the announcement of Battlegrounds Mobile India has surpassed 20 million pre-registrations on the Google Play Store.
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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