The most popular MOBA game on Android and iOS, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, is reportedly present in India with a different publisher and a strange name, namely MOBA Legends: 5v5. This game was released on April 24 2024, which is not an official game published by Moonton Games itself.
Moonton still hasn’t confirmed whether MOBA Legends: 5v5 is legit, whether the game is a localized version released for the Indian region, or whether Vizta Games as the publisher of MOBA Legends: 5v5 really stole the formula from Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Uniquely, this game has an engine and gameplay that is similar to Mobile Legends: Bang Bang when running.
It could be that MOBA Legends: 5v5 is a localized version published by a different publisher, namely Vizta Games. Because previously, Moonton Games had received a ‘banhammer’ from India in 2020 for the game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, which was suspended because Moonton Games took personal data from its users, according to the Indian Ministry of Electronics.
This case is similar to Tencent and Krafton who published PUBG Mobile in India under the name Battlegrounds Mobile India (BMGI). So from the existing speculation, it is true that Moonton Games transferred the publication rights to Vizta Games for MOBA Legends: 5v5.
It is indeed difficult for Indian gamers to enjoy mobile games that are already popular outside the country, so for developers, it is very difficult to bring these games to India with all the existing regulations. On the other hand, several publishers have also given publication rights to developers so they can be released in that country. These include Arena of Valor in Vietnam under the name Lien Quan Mobile, League of Legends: Wild Rift which changed publisher to VNG Mobile, and so on.
