Made-in-India battle royale game Indus garners 8.5 million pre-registrations

SuperGaming has made the game available in beta for Android devices through Google Play after a limited closed beta for select iOS users in December 2023.

Pune-based game developer SuperGaming has garnered 8.5 million pre-registrations for its made-in-India battle royale title Indus, a year after opening pre-registrations in January 2023.

The startup has also made the game available in beta for Android devices through Google Play after a limited closed beta for select iOS users in December 2023.

What's particularly noteworthy is that SuperGaming claims that the game will be playable in low-end Android smartphones priced at about Rs 8,000, thereby making it accessible to a wide set of players across the world.

"Mobile is the biggest segment of the Indian gaming market and we want to treat players on mobile as first-class citizens rather than an after-thought," said Sujeet Kumar, Technical Director, SuperGaming.

“While Indus runs on Unity, our fully custom-built sandbox shooter tech stack called the Indus Engine allows us to optimise the game even further for a smoother playing experience,” he said.

Also Read: How SuperGaming plans to build India's Fortnite with Indus

SuperGaming said that Indus currently runs at greater than 40fps on 2022 low-end Android devices with 4GB RAM along with several visual details such as environments and shadows dialled back in its internal testing conditions. Meanwhile, 2023 Android flagships achieve 60fps with every visual detail set to the maximum in internal tests.

"SuperGaming is continuously optimising Indus to support more low-end devices. Most smartphones bought in 2020 onwards should be able to run it at playable frame rates. Visual fidelity may vary based on the exact hardware in use as well as user-customised graphics settings" the startup said.

Making the game available for a broader set of consumers will be key for Indus as it looks to take on rival titles in the battle royale genre, where online players fight to the death until only one remains.

The genre is currently dominated by Krafton's Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and Garena's Free Fire, with other players including Epic Games-owned Fortnite and Microsoft's Call of Duty. Mayhem Studios, the studio backed by skill-gaming unicorn Mobile Premier League (MPL) also recently announced the closed beta of its battle royale title Underworld Gang Wars.

A unique win condition also sets this game apart: Cosmium, an in-game item developed by SuperGaming, grants victory to anyone who captures it during the last few minutes of the game. This allows players to win without being the last one standing.

“Cosmium is central to Indus’ universe, story-telling, and gameplay,” says SuperGaming co-founder Roby John.

The beta version will currently be accessible through a limited number of keys on Indus Beta website that people can get by signing up for the waitlist.

It will include the complete battle royale experience and several new features tested and improved upon through previous Indus Community Playtests, esports event Indus Esports Invitational and the iOS limited closed beta event, the company said.

Indus is the most ambitious title for SuperGaming, which has previously developed games such as MaskGun, Silly Royale, Battle Stars, and Tower Conquest.

The gaming studio, which counts Pac-Man, Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco, Akatsuki Entertainment Technology Fund, Skycatcher, BAce Capital, and Dream Incubator among its investors, first unveiled Indus in January 2022 and plans to launch the title on mobile platforms, consoles, and PC.

The game is set in ‘Indo-Futurism,’ which the startup describes as a futuristic world that is “unapologetically Indian in its exploration and representation of science fiction”. It is heavily inspired by Indian culture and mythology and features the Indus Valley civilisation as the backdrop of the story.

In November 2023, SuperGaming also announced an integration with Fortnite to attract a global audience. As part of this integration, players will be able to experience Indus’ gameplay, map, and modes in Fortnite's creator mode on PC and macOS.