Can Indus Compete with BGMI in India's Growing Battle Royale Gaming Market?

India’s booming esports industry lacks one crucial element - a homegrown game that highlights the country’s distinct flavor.

Pune-based game development studio SuperGaming plans to fill that gap with Indus, a indo-futuristic Battle royale title that focuses on rival Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), the top title in the genre in which online players fight to death until only one remains. 

"The Battle Royale player pool in India is estimated at about 300-350 million. We are going to attract a portion of these players but it's not just an India opportunity, it's a global opportunity," SuperGaming co-founder Roby John told Moneycontrol in an interview.

John said more than a billion players worldwide play a Battle Royale shooter game. "That's the opportunity that we're going after. It's fairly large," he said. Other games in this genre include Free Fire, Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Apex Legends. 

Indus was launched in India on October 16, it took more than two and half years to get its initial announcement in january 2022. It garnered about 14 million pre-registrations since January 2023 and achieved one million downloads across iOS and Android platforms within a day of its launch. 

Early reviews have largely been negative, with key criticisms highlighting subpar graphics, poor game mechanics, lag, connectivity issues, and various in-game glitches. The company has announced plans to tackle many of these problems through upcoming app updates.

As competition heats up in the lucrative Battle Royale genre in India, the company faces a tough challenge. In 2023, BGMI and Free Fire were the two highest-grossing Android apps in the country.

Esports push 

Along with launch, Supergaming has also charted out a year-long esports roadmap with upcoming tournaments like “Clutch India movement’ with the prize worth of rs. 2.5 crore. It will be followed by the Indus international Mahasangram in October 2025.

"Our first tournament will happen in February and the next one in October. These are called first-party tournaments run by us. But we have also opened out to third-party tournaments. We will run licensed tournaments later. We will make an announcement in February after the first tournament," John said.

He added that every game attracts its own audience. "We're kind of building a community. When we think of games, they are really community driven. No matter what marketing goes in, ultimately it's the community."

The company has grown one of its shooter titles, MaskGun, to about 92 million users over the past eight years with the power of community and minimal marketing."We've probably spent like $50,000 in marketing. That gave us a clear idea on how we wanted to think about Indus as well," he said.

Since its launch, the gaming studio has faced criticism regarding its response to player and streamer feedback. The company, however, has publicly clarified that it is "100 percent open to feedback, whether positive or negative." It also sought a copyright strike against a creator's videos for containing "hate speech, personal abuses, and inappropriate content."