The 5 best alternatives to PUBG Mobile in India

To say that PUBG Mobile is was popular in India would be an understatement. With over 175 million downloads, accounting for 24% of lifetime downloads and active daily user base of over 13 million players, PUBG Mobile was, by and large, the most popular mobile game in the country. So now that it and PUBG Mobile Lite have both been banned by the Government of India, where do smartphone gamers get their fix? Here are five of the best alternatives to PUBG Mobile in India.

The best alternatives to PUBG Mobile in India

1. Call of Duty Mobile

When the legendary Call of Duty series finally decided to make its way to mobile phones it did it right. The game is supremely polished, ships with solid mechanics, PvP modes, and, of course, a 100-player battle royale mode. There’s more than enough content too including weapons, character unlocks, and more.

2. Fortnite

Fortnite is a bit different from the standard shooters you’ll find in this list. What sets it apart is a crafting element that lets you, well, build walls, weapons, and traps around you. You can even sync your console and PC data to bring over your preferred skins.

The only gripe? The game needs a pretty hefty smartphone to get the gameplay smooth, so mid-range phones might not cut it. Unfortunately, due to ongoing legal tussles, the game is no longer available on the Play Store. Check out our guide on how to install Fornite on your phone for more on how to get into the action.

3. Garena Free Fire

Free Fire is another very popular mobile battle royale game that managed to hit 100 million peak daily users earlier this year. An excellent alternative to PUBG Mobile, the game offers up to 150 player combat and is tweaked for shorter bursts of gameplay up to 10 minutes in length.

The game is well polished and lets you create four-man squads including voice chat. Like PUBG Mobile, Free Fire also follows the freemium gameplay model.

4. Battlelands Royale

Battlelands Royale is a bit different in that it follows a top-down shooting style. It lets up to 32 players join in for short, 3-5 minute battles. The best part? There is very little wait time and no lobbies either. The perfect mobile battle royale game to play in short bursts.

5. Battlegrounds Mobile India

PUBG Mobile might have been booted from the country, but the company isn’t giving up just yet. A rebooted version of the game dubbed Battlegrounds Mobile India is on the way. The game isn’t available just yet, but pre-registrations have been opened up. The game is expected to be very similar to PUBG with concessions being made to adhere to Indian legal requirements including local servers, and potentially a KYC-based user identification system. All associations with Tencent have been removed and Battlegrounds Mobile India is being launched by Krafton, the original company behind PUBG. 

Registrations are open at the Play Store, and you can set the game to auto-download once available. 

Looking for even more battle royale options? We’ve got you covered in our list of best mobile battle royale games. What’s your preferred alternative to PUBG?