Krafton removes 2.5 mn accounts in a month to stem cheating on Indian PUBG

Krafton Inc, the South Korean video gaming giant, said it has removed 2.5 million accounts in just over a month to eradicate cheating on Battlegrounds Mobile India, the exclusive Indian version of PUBG.

While it permanently banned 2,519,692 accounts, it temporarily banned 706,319 accounts between September and now.

Among the steps it has taken to eradicate cheating and cheaters on BGMI are stronger cheat detection and banning mechanisms, permanent bans, manually verifying and banning any accounts that use or promote illegal programs among high-rankers, and blocking YouTube channels that promote illegal activity on BGMI.

Krafton is working with YouTube on the removing these accounts, it said in a statement.

“If you are using cheat tools, you will get banned eventually, if not immediately,” said Krafton in a statement on its website.

It also cautioned users against sharing their accounts, encouraged them to keep reporting misuse on the platform.

Last week, Krafton launched the next game in its PUBG franchise, PUBG: NEW STATE. The game has been released on iOS and Android devices in more than 200 countries following its final technical test, which took place in late October. 

Developed by PUBG Studios, the same company that created the highly successful PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS battle royale video game that has sold more than 70 million copies on PC and consoles, PUBG: NEW STATE is a free-to-play next-generation mobile game playable in 17 different languages. 

Set in the year 2051, PUBG: NEW STATE brings the full, uncompromised battle royale gaming experience currently available in PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS to iOS and Android, making it one of the most realistic and technologically advanced mobile games to date. 

In a September 30 post on its website, Krafton had said, "We work daily on logic enforcement and updates to illegal programs, blocking ad channels, and monitoring real-time, and have permanently sanctioned more than 1.52 million accounts till date and are working on modernizing our systems."

In early September, the company told Business Standard it plans to expand the Battlegrounds India Mobile brand into various other platforms and expand its investment opportunities in India. The PUBG: NEW STATE announcement is in line with that plan. 

Krafton has previously invested in Indian esports and gaming company NODWIN Gaming ($22.5 million) and gaming platform Loco ($9 million), as part of its announcement to invest $100 million in India. It has also made an investment in online local language novel publisher Pratilipi.