'Hackers are trying to create better hacks', says Krafton

Krafton’s Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) is one of the major game titles for the Indian esports industry. Despite being the most popular battle royale game in the country, Krafton has struggled to address the rising concerns about cheaters using hacks. Recently, Nodwin Gaming disqualified and banned three teams from the Philips OneBlade Battleground Mobile India Cup 2024 for cheating by using unauthorized and unethical methods during the official esports tournament.

CS Esports, Falcon Esports, and RK Esports were banned for using third-party software in their initial five matches. These teams have been banned from all Nodwin Gaming tournaments for one year. Hacking incidents in official tournaments not only brings disrepute to the game publishers and tournament organizers but also to the brands associated with the esports property.

Karan Pathak, Associate Director of Esports at Krafton India, spoke to Storyboard18 about the increasing number of hackers in the game and issues around tournament organizers to host third-party tournaments.

When asked about the increasing incidents of hacking during official esports tournaments, Karan Pathak said that Krafton is taking multiple steps to curb hacking in-game. “We have always been protective of our players and our game. Hackers create a bad experience for every player. We are releasing regular patch updates to address new hacks to protect the game and community.”

Elaborating further, Pathak said, “As the community and the game get bigger, hackers are trying to create better hacks. We are fighting that by recording gameplay and using handcams.” He also pointed out that instead of singling out a player, Krafton penalizes the entire team to protect the individual player.

According to a report by AWS and Lumikai, India’s esports sector is projected to grow from $40 million in 2022 to $140 million by 2027, with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 32 percent. The report also found that the number of esports players in India grew from 150,000 in 2021 to 600,000 in 2022, and is expected to reach 1.5 million by 2027.

Recently, multiple tournament organizers have raised concerns about publishers not permitting them to host third-party tournaments. During and post COVID-19, there were around 9-10 active tournament organizers for both PC and mobile esports game titles. Most of them now have shut their business operations. Organizers blamed publishers for not allowing them to host tournaments, which they claim led to a decline in the growth of esports in the country.

Addressing these concerns, Pathak said that Krafton is working with esports organizations to ensure there is no overlapping of events. He shared that to streamline the process and experience for organizers, Krafton has recently launched a dedicated esports website on Krafton.com, which will act as a central hub for all things BGMI.

Pathak said, “In the past, event organizers had to send proposals about their plans for hosting tournaments via email. This new streamlined approach will enable Krafton to make sure there are no scheduling conflicts that could impact the overall esports calendar.”

Pathak also mentioned that Krafton prioritizes team autonomy but not at the expense of fair play within BGMI. He discussed Krafton monitoring the brands that organizers partner with in tournaments.

Regarding a recent incident, Krafton had clarified that ‘Fearless Esports’ has no association with them. Fearless Esports was allegedly involved in collecting data of female players by falsely claiming their connection with Krafton. “We keep a close watch on esports activities in India, but it is difficult to monitor private platforms like Telegram. We actively monitor unauthorized use of Krafton on multiple platforms.”