Mayhem Studios announces Closed Beta for Underworld Gang wars

Bengaluru-based Mayhem Studios has announced the closed beta of Underworld gang wars, their much-anticipated battle Royale game.

The announcement comes after the company concluded their recent community playtest, attended by gamers and content creators like Aditya Sawant of Dynamo Gaming and Rawnkee, whose real name is Ronodeep Dasgupta.

The gaming studio enabled the gameplay to a larger audience, opening registrations a year after officially announcing the game last year.

Notably, UGW has received over 7 million pre-registrations so far. The game incorporates Indian elements in its theme and characters, as well as hotspots rooted in India.

The studio also concluded its Alpha playtests recently, receiving praise for gameplay content as well as mechanics. 

Played in the first person perspective, the game will allow for playing across 16 hotspots like the fort, the ghats, mandi and others.

This makes UGW the first to represent Indian locations in an AAA game.

Players can take sides and join as gang members of either The Velvets or the ‘Bhokal Toli’ to go ahead with the gameplay. 

They will also be able to play with weapons like the hammer and the ‘katta’, to enhance the gameplay experience.

Ojas Vipat, CEO of Mayhem Studios said, “We look forward to seeing the reaction of UGW fans who have shown us great love and support ever since we announced the title’’.

Highlighting their goal, the company said they not only aspire to develop high-quality games and gaming-related IP in India, but also build unique titles to impact the gaming industry internationally as well.

Mayhem Studios was launched in May 2022 by Mobile Premier League (MPL) to develop AAA mobile games for domestic as well as international markets. It raised about $20 million from Peak XV Partners, Steadview Capital, Truecaller and Hashed Emergent in 2023.

Dominated by Krafton's Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), known as PUBG before being taken over by the South Korean studio, competitors for the Battle Royal genre include Microsoft's Call of Duty and Epic Games' Fortnite, as well as Free Fire by Garena.

Another Indian studio, Pune-based SuperGaming is also building a made-in-India battle royale game. Known as Indus, the game is available to select users and is likely to debut on mobile, PC, and consoles in the later part of 2024.

The genre is 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.