PUBG fame Krafton is all set to invest another $250 million in India over the next three to four years as a part of its next expansion move beyond gaming to AI, robotics, and deep tech. The development came after Krafton chairman Byung Gyu Chang met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Friday, 4 September.
According to the company's statement, the meeting focused on strengthening India's position as a global hub for gaming, innovation, and emerging technologies. As Krafton pushes beyond gaming, the new investment commitment will take the South Korean gaming company's total planned investment in India to over $500 million — taking into account $250 million it had already invested in the country since 2021.
“India is a market of immense opportunity, with exceptional talent across gaming, technology and innovation. Our continued investments reflect our long-term confidence in India and our commitment to contributing to its digital economy,” PTI quoted Chang's statement.
Popular for its flagship title Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Krafton's latest $250 million pledge follows its commitment to a $670 million India-focused growth fund agreed to in December 2025. The gaming giant unveiled it with South Korean internet conglomerate Naver and investor Mirae Asset and pledged to contribute around $137 million at the fund’s first close. According to TechCrunch report, the $250 million investment agreement is separate from the growth fund.
With India serving a key market for its products, Krafton's localized version of PUBG ‘BGMI’ has crossed 260 million downloads. Initially, Krafton built its India business around gaming, led by BGMI, but in recent years, the gaming publisher has expanded its business beyond games, it has backed numerous startups and continues to strengthen its local operations. Though Krafton’s run in India has not been smooth, the company continued to invest in the country over the years and has so far backed about 18 companies, including four to five gaming studios, TechCrunch reported.
Krafton has been building its local operations with investments in Nodwin Gaming, Loco, Pratilipi, Kuku FM and One Impression, among others. Last year, it purchased Pune-based gaming studio Nautilus Mobile, famous for Real Cricket franchise. Some time ago, the company launched an industry-academia program called KIGI Academy which aims to train talent in game development and digital creation.
Krafton plans to launch BGMI Lite in India by the end of 2026 despite the early setbacks. In 2020, Indian government banned PUBG Mobile and hundreds of other Chinese-linked apps in the wake of tensions between New Delhi and Beijing. This move pushed Krafton to localise it operations, following which it launched BGMI in 2021. To address the crisis, the company moved its India servers to Microsoft’s Azure cloud and introduced Tencent Games as the game’s publisher in India.
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