FAU-G, India’s Take on Battle Royale, Looks Like a Wasted Opportunity

• An Indian games developer with no previous titles on its portfolio is promising a fully-fledged PUBG alternative.
• The game is called FAU-G and is already promoted aggressively through national trumpets.
• Gamers in India are already calling the project out for blatantly copying all aspects of PUBG.

The ban of PUBG (Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds) in India has been met with negative feelings by the local gaming community, as millions of players have suddenly lost their favorite entertainment source. Simultaneously, though, the massive void created from this event offered a big opportunity for local developers to capture large chunks of player-base that would now roam around like lost souls.

We have already given you seven great non-Chinese alternatives to try in India, all able to scratch your “battle royale” itch, but the first news about local efforts has also just emerged.

Yesterday, the Bengaluru-based game developer ‘nCore Games’ has announced the imminent launch of “Fearless and United: Guards (FAU-G),” setting the release date to some point in October 2020.

The team behind the new game is investing in the currently strong anti-Chinese sentiment in India, promising to donate 20% of its net revenues to a state-backed trust, and give details about the first level of the game being based on the Galwan Valley. This is a location at the Himalayan border, where real tensions between Indian and Chinese army forces manifest. At least 20 Indian soldiers have been killed during military conflicts in this particular area since June.

As much as the nCore PR is trying to convince the local audience that the FAU-G game has been under development for months now, there’s a lot of mocking, degrading, and ridicule going on against them. It seems that nCore has been formed just now to create something that is essentially a cheap copy of PUBG. Getting angry players to accept an alternative is hard, but it gets even worse when that alternative looks like a knock-off.

This has to be a joke. A game isn’t developed in 2 days.

The Modi govt literally banned PUBG citing “sovereignty & security of India” just so that their crony could launch a game called FAU-G.

I mean there’s not even a pretense anymore. The name literally is a give away. https://t.co/4lRDqRfmZU

— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) September 4, 2020

#PUBG stands for "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds"#FAUG stands for "We Can't Even Come Up with An Original Name for A Game We Want To Copy And Sell In The Name of Nationalism."

— meghnad 🔗 (@Memeghnad) September 4, 2020

nCore has contracted actor Akshay Kumar to help them promote the upcoming title, and the celebrity found himself on the receiving end of many conspiracy theories claims, reasonable questions about the game’s development, and many thoughts around who (and what funds) are behind this project.

Supporting PM @narendramodi’s AtmaNirbhar movement, proud to present an action game,Fearless And United-Guards FAU-G. Besides entertainment, players will also learn about the sacrifices of our soldiers. 20% of the net revenue generated will be donated to @BharatKeVeer Trust #FAUG pic.twitter.com/Q1HLFB5hPt

— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) September 4, 2020

All in all, FAU-G is a wasted opportunity to capture the orphaned player-base of PUBG in India, drowned in an overly unneeded mist of surreptitiousness. Creating a PUBG equivalent so quickly is an unrealistic expectation. Still, Indian developers could do better by focusing on the development of fun FPS games with unique spins that would bring something new to the scene. Hopefully, someone in India is already working on it.