KRAFTON India has opened pre-registration for BGMI Air on iOS, a month before the game launches in India on 10 December. iPhone users can now sign up on the Apple App Store, the company said on 11 November. Until now, pre-registration had been open only on Google Play, where it passed 14 million sign-ups. The iOS opening means players on both major mobile platforms can now register before launch.
What is BGMI Air?
BGMI Air is a lighter version of Battlegrounds Mobile India, KRAFTON India’s main battle royale game. The company says it keeps BGMI’s core gameplay while needing an initial download of around 1GB. That size is aimed at players whose phones or storage have kept them from playing BGMI. KRAFTON India has not published the minimum device requirements or the full install size after updates. The small download is the main way the company hopes to reach players who cannot run the full game.
BGMI Air will be a separate app rather than an update to BGMI. Existing BGMI players can play it without transferring their current accounts, KRAFTON India said. The company has not said whether progress, purchases or cosmetics will carry over between the two games. It has also not said whether players on the two apps will share matchmaking. For existing players, this means BGMI Air is an extra app, not a replacement.
The Android figure gives a sense of early demand. BGMI Air passed 14 million pre-registrations on Google Play before its launch date was announced, the company said. That is about 5% of BGMI’s 260 million total downloads, a TalkEsport calculation. The comparison is rough, because downloads and pre-registrations measure different things, and one person can count more than once. Even so, the figure shows the lighter app has drawn substantial interest before release.
KRAFTON India has not said how many players it expects at launch, or whether esports events will follow. Karan Pathak, KRAFTON India’s associate director of esports, said the company would launch the app first and then decide its esports plans, as we covered in our interview with Karan Pathak. TalkEsport reported earlier on how BGMI Air passed 10 million pre-registrations, and on the confirmation of its launch date. Any esports announcement is therefore unlikely before the app is available.
Players can pre-register now on Google Play and the Apple App Store. KRAFTON India said further updates will come through BGMI Air’s official social media accounts. Everything confirmed so far is in our BGMI Air guide, and details on the main game are on the official BGMI website. BGMI Air launches in India on 10 December.
