In India, the government has blocked 118 mobile apps, including the successful and popular PUBG Mobile. An Indian development studio has now announced the new game FAU-G, which has many similarities to PUBG.
What is happening in India? On September 2nd, we reported on MeinMMO that 118 mobile apps have been blocked in India. The reason is that they “endanger the integrity of India, the defense of India, the security of the state, and public order.”
Both iOS and Android apps are affected:
- Among the apps are many games from China developed by Chinese developers like NetEase, who are involved with Blizzard in creating Diablo Immortal.
- Another blocked title is PUBG Mobile, which was extremely popular in India and was published by the Chinese tech giant Tencent.
The Indian developer nCORE Games has now announced its own shooter, which already shows strong similarities to PUBG in its trailer. However, the title has a significantly closer connection to Indian history.
FAU-G as a replacement for PUBG?
What is FAU-G? The name of the game immediately reminds of the well-known battle royale. Officially, it is called “Fearless and United Guards” and is set to be released in October. FAU-G sounds like the Hindi word for soldier (Phojee) and is supposed to revolve around the Indian army.
However, there has not been much to see other than the trailer and one image.
The title image is a stock photo, to which only Indian flags and the logos of nCORE Games and the game have been added. By purchasing such a license, the use is legal and unproblematic, but some see it as a short-term action to benefit from the PUBG ban. There are also discussions about whether the game will be produced quickly.
Who is developing the game? Behind the development studio nCORE Games is investor Vishal Gondal. He had great success with the company Indiagames and sold it in 2011 for 100 million dollars to Disney.
According to nCORE Games, FAU-G has supposedly been in production since 2019 and the ban on PUBG Mobile was allegedly just a coincidence. The team is said to consist of more than 25 programmers, artists, and designers who have previously worked on top titles.
So far, the studio, which was founded in 2019, has not released its own game. They also announced that 20% of all revenues from FAU-G will go to India’s Breavehearts, an official organization in memory of fallen soldiers.
Is CoD: Mobile taking all players first?
PUBG Mobile was so successful in India because many users have access to a smartphone. PCs and consoles, on the other hand, are quite rare in the country.
Now that PUBG Mobile has been blocked, many will be looking for an alternative. FAU-G might be too late with a release in October, as there are other battle royales that Indian players have access to.
One of them is Call of Duty: Mobile from Activision.
The smartphone shooter was downloaded over 100 million times within the first 7 days and even surpassed games like Fortnite and Pokémon GO. Since then, the game has been continuously developed and regularly receives new maps, modes, and weapons.
CoD: Mobile is among the mobile games with the best graphics. To find out which smartphone games look stunning, we reveal this list from MeinMMO.
