A massive piece of news came out for Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) fans yesterday. Krafton announced the return of the game after being banned for 10 months and it had the gaming and esports community excited.

BGMI is coming back for three months only for now and will be monitored for any user harm or addiction-related issues subject to which the Centre would decide if the unban can be made permanent. Despite that the players and esports organizations are upbeat and have welcomed the move.

Developers of the game Krafton expressed their gratitude towards the government and the gaming community, saying, “We are highly grateful to the Indian authorities for allowing us to resume operations of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). We would like to extend our gratitude to our Indian gaming community for their support and patience over the past few months.”

Several prominent stakeholders of the online gaming industry shared their thoughts, insights and plans with the game.

Here’s how the industry reacted –

We are glad that the government has taken this initiative. The gaming community and the future of gamers and their careers had come to a standstill. With this move, we hope to see a positive and encouraging future. The player teams will be absolutely thrilled to once again be a part of this booming Indian gaming community.

– Abhishek Aggarwal, CEO of Trinity Gaming India.

The comeback of BGMI will give the overall Indian gaming industry a shot in the arm. It will encourage gamers and the gaming community including athletes, tournaments, sponsors and streamers to start generating revenue again. The regulatory environment around gaming is constantly evolving and improving which is forming an amazing foundation for growth of gaming in India in this decade.

– Manish Agarwal, Founder of IndiGG.

The gaming industry will gain further from the re-entry of BGMI. The game has a large following of enthusiasts and will get esports to come back even stronger. With the government sorting out the technical issues and regulatory concerns, the already growing Indian gaming ecosystem and the gaming community will benefit and rise.

Esports has been a medal sport in South East Asian Games in 2019, 2021 & 2022. India won a bronze medal in 2018 Asian Games, where esports was included as a demonstration title. Esports is at the forefront of this growth and is estimated to become a ₹1,100 crore industry by 2025 at a CAGR of 46%.

– Bharat Patel, Chairman & Director, Yudiz Solutions.

There would be no Indus without PUBG/BGMI, and playing PUBG and other shooters like Apex and CoD have defined the space for us and our player expectations. We’re glad it’s coming back, gaming should be without boundaries.

– Roby John, CEO of SuperGaming.

I welcome Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) return to India. The game was an integral part of our esports roadmap before and while we have diversified to other titles, we look forward to integrating India’s favourite battle royale title into our IPs like the Skyesports League, Skyesports Championship, and more in the near future.

– Shiva Nandy, CEO of Skyesports.

We had already heard rumblings of the game’s return and had thus already begun strengthening our battle royale roster with the addition of Sensei and MJ. For us at Revenant, we look forward to using the game to strengthen our newly launched content IPs and expanding them further to include BGMI. Fans can expect to see a lot of exciting content from us soon.

I congratulate Krafton on managing to bring the game back and look forward to their Esports plans for the game. The game’s return will definitely be a huge boost to the entire Esports industry and reopen revenue streams for all stakeholders.

– Rohit Jagasia, CEO of Revenant Esports.

BGMI had shown massive traction from the Indian gaming community, and it will be great for the community. BGMI’s return will be beneficial for the entire gaming community, including content creators, esports athletes and others.

– Anurag Khurana, Founder of Penta Esports.

We’ve been waiting for the return for almost a year now, I think this time everyone in the ecosystem needs to get smarter and learn from the last few years of what’s happened.

Athletes, creators, orgs, TOS and brands everyone needs to appreciate the impact that the game has on our ecosystem and focus their efforts on the long term sustainability of the ecosystem. With regards to global esports – as I had said before, we intend to go all out and leave no stone unturned.

– Rushindra Sinha, CEO of Global Esports.

The weekend fever has never been higher for all of us at 8Bit Creatives. The game represents so much for the gaming community, and we are thankful to the team at Krafton, Indian Govt. Officials & everyone else who has been working relentlessly to make this possible. This is sure to infuse new energy into the Indian Gaming Industry, and I am sure the whole industry is going to join forces to make it bigger than ever before.

We are looking forward to accelerating this journey, with renewed vigour. We are most thankful to the players, and audiences, who showed great resilience during this period and continued to support the gamers.

– Animesh Agarwal, Founder, 8Bit Creatives.

The BGMI unban or approval for 3 months by GOI is a very good news for a lot of players, content creators and orgs who had invested in the game during its prime. We are equally overwhelmed with the news and s8ul shall continue to provide content in terms of playing multiple games and doing our IRL videos for the main channel.

My suggestion to all the org owners and players would be to be a little careful with their money and time this time. Try and build more income streams, diversify and educate their audience about multiple titles. Just don’t go all in.

– Lokesh Jain, Founder, S8UL.