Indus Battle Royale vs Indian YouTubers: What Both Sides Need to Learn

Two years after its initial reveal, SuperGaming launched its highly anticipated game, Indus Battle Royale, for the Indian gaming community on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Within 24 hours, the game garnered over a million downloads and recorded 80,000 matches. Just when it seemed that Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) had met a real challenger, things took an unexpected turn for SuperGaming.

Indus Battle Royale received mixed feedback from critics and the gaming community, with the game currently rated around 3 stars on the app stores. This was just the beginning of what would become one of the biggest controversies in the Indian gaming community. Here’s everything you need to know about the Indus Battle Royale and Indian YouTubers saga.

SuperGaming filed FIR against Indian YouTube creator

Indus Battle Royale was marketed as India’s own battle royale game and a competitor to BGMI. On October 16, the game officially launched for players, but initial reactions were not favourable for SuperGaming. The gameplay was noticeably different from what the teasers had suggested, with players likening Indus Battle Royale to a mix of Apex Legends-style gameplay and Free Fire-style graphics.

The gaming community did not warmly receive Indus Battle Royale, with widespread complaints about performance issues, gameplay mechanics, latency, map design, and simplistic graphics.

An important statement from SuperGaming pic.twitter.com/a1K1NWuZHn

— Indus Game (@IndusGame) October 18, 2024

The situation took a dramatic twist when SuperGaming filed an FIR against a 19-year-old YouTuber known as ZASSAR. In a press statement, the company explained that while it is open to constructive criticism and feedback, it will not tolerate statements that impact the mental health of its developers. The statement mentioned that the YouTuber allegedly crossed the line by including hateful speech, personal abuse, and morphed inappropriate images of team members in his content, under the guise of feedback.

A follow up to our previous announcement.
For any further questions, reach out to us at [email protected] pic.twitter.com/DhsZ3uZS9Q

— Indus Game (@IndusGame) October 20, 2024

The YouTuber subsequently removed the video and issued a public apology via a community post, after which SuperGaming withdrew the FIR. Nonetheless, the Indian gaming community criticised SuperGaming’s response to the situation.

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What could have been avoided

While the situation has stabilised, it arguably should not have escalated to this point. It’s evident that the graphical quality and gameplay of Indus Battle Royale fell short of what was shown in teasers, but perfection is rare in any release.

ZASSAR, the YouTube creator, acknowledged that he used inappropriate language in his feedback. The trend of targeting game developers with abuse, making disparaging memes and launching personal attacks under the pretext of feedback is a concerning issue that the Indian gaming community needs to address.

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What we think about it

A sense of professionalism should be encouraged among young Indian YouTuber creators, especially those covering gaming. Supergaming, on the other hand, could also have avoided the FIR since it would have affected on the gamer's mental health also. It should have relied on communication channels first. 

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