When it comes to India’s most popular esports in terms of user base, it is the Singapore-based Garena’s Free Fire Max has reportedly surpassed Krafton’s BattleGrounds Mobile India (BGMI).
Developed and published by Garena for Android as well as iOS, Free Fire is a mobile multiplayer battle royale game.
Fire Fire Max surpasses BGMI
Comscore’s, a media analytics platform, data reveals that in November 2023, there were 28 million unique users for Free Fire Max against BGMI 21 million.
It was in June last year that BGMI faced a temporary loss of the topmost position, shortly after this however, BGMI resumed the operations. By that time, Free Fire had already gained the top position in a period of 3 months.
Notably, Free Fire Max’s sister game Free Fire was banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs in addition to 53 other apps due to security concerns.
However, the Free Fire Max, which was the premium version of the game was provided in India.
Anuj Tandon, chief executive of gaming at media and gaming firm JetSynthesys said that “We have always seen a much larger base of players from smaller cities and towns with low-specification smartphones opt for Free Fire compared to other esports games”.
Free Fire Max as well as BGMI, both involve players competing against each other, be it individually or be it in a teams of four. This all happens in a confined virtual space, wherein the last remaining player or team is the one who wins the game. Unlike BGMI with more realistic weapons and settings, Free Fire Max employs rather fantastic motifs with players and weapons alike.
Esports Market Developments in India
Last year in 2023, the highly anticipated release of Free Fire was postponed ensuring complete localization of the game.
It was after a year and half that the company announced the comeback of game in India but later decided to postpone the release to ensure best possible experience to users.
With Indian cricketer MS Dhoni as brand ambassador, Garena launched exclusive ‘Free Fire India’ version on August 31.
As per the company, with features and content that are specific to the local market, the game Free Fire India would be an India-exclusive app.
With increased internet as well as smartphone penetration, India is emerging as a lucrative market for gaming companies across the world. As per the data from Lumikai report, the number of esports players in India has quadrupled within one year and has increased from 150,000 in 2021 to 600,000 in 2022.
After its relaunch, BGMI has experienced massive success in India and Garena’s “Free Fire India” is also anticipated to capitalize on the exploding gaming industry. By 2027, the industry will grow to a market size of $8.6 Bn.
In addition to these two heavy players, there is a Made-in-India battle royale title Indus, which is being developed by SuperGaming, which is a Pune-based game development startup. This game shall be positioned to lock horns with the aforementioned esports veterans.
