Krafton

Krafton (formerly Bluehole) is a South Korean video game developer known for its 2017 battle royale shooter game “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG). Krafton has built an extended esports ecosystem across North America, LATAM, and Asia with PUBG. The first major PUBG international tournament was organized in 2018 with 20 teams competing for USD 2 million. In 2020,  it introduced a regional tournament, the PUBG Continental Series, partly due to Covid pandemic-related disruptions. 

In 2020, lifetime revenue from PUBG’s mobile version exceeded USD 5 billion with more than 75 million copies sold across PCs and consoles as of June 2021. In 2021, Krafton reported WON 1.9 trillion (USD 1.6 billion) in total revenue, reflecting year-over-year (YoY) growth of 12.9%. Operating profit declined 17.3% YoY to WON 640 billion (USD 435 million) in 2021 from WON 774 billion (USD 700 million) in 2020. 

Krafton raised USD 3.75 billion in its IPO in August 2021 valuing the company at USD 18.9 billion. This was the second-largest IPO in South Korea at the time. The IPO proceeds were allocated toward global mergers and acquisitions, to expand its presence in India and the Middle East, and expand its PUBG IP through the development of new games. Krafton is expected to release two new games in 2021, targeting the Indian market utilizing PUBG intellectual property and includes mobile games "PUBG: New State" and "Battlegrounds Mobile India." In July 2021, Krafton announced the official launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India via Google Play.

PUBG suffered a nine-month ban in India as part of a wider government operation to block apps with links to China over national security concerns. As a result, Krafton cut ties with Tencent Games in India in September 2020 and subsequently announced a USD 100 million investment in India's gaming ecosystem. In its return, the game was rebranded to ‘Battlegrounds Mobile India’ in the South Asian market with additional data compliance measures.