Ahmedabad will witness its first-ever offline LAN (Local Area Network) esports tournament final from Friday to Sunday, hosted by the South Korean game developer Krafton – the makers of BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India). The company was earlier known for its PUBG (Player Unknown's Battleground), which has been banned by the Indian government. The final of the tournament of the video game, 'Battlegrounds Mobile India Pro Series 2023' (BMPS), will take place at EKA Arena stadium, featuring 16 professional esports teams. Six matches will be played each day. Head of esports at Krafton India, Karan Pathak, said on Tuesday, “For a LAN experience, you need Internet connectivity below 20 ping. The technology has advanced, so it allows us to travel everywhere.” The Ping is an acronym for Packet InterNet Groper, a computer network management system software that tests communication between two devices. It is a method to determine communication latency or the time it takes for data to travel between two devices or across a network, which is crucial for esports, as the reaction time of players is very fast. “We were trying to come (to Ahmedabad). the last time we tried, we faced Internet connectivity issues. However, with Ahmedabad’s development, now it doesn’t feel different than Mumbai. Internet connectivity has improved and the city now has an appropriate environment for gaming,” Pathak said. As many as 96 teams had participated in the online rounds held from November 22 to December 9, among which 16 qualified for the finale. The event will start at 4.30 pm.
