Updated 24 October 2026: Jonathan Amaral left GodLike Esports in April 2026 and now plays for his own team, Team Apex Gaming. This page has been updated with his move and his recent results.
Who is the GOAT of BGMI?
Ask Indian fans who the greatest Battlegrounds Mobile India player of all time is, and most will say Jonathan Amaral, known as Jonathan Gaming. He is the best-known face of Indian mobile esports, and his individual record backs up the reputation: at The Esports Awards 2022 he finished second for Esports Mobile Player of the Year.
The case against him is about trophies. Jonathan has never won the Battlegrounds Mobile India Series (BGIS), Krafton’s national championship. His best finish there is second, with GodLike in 2025, when he was named Finals MVP. GodLike won the BGMI Pro Series in 2026, but only after he had left.
Jonathan’s career so far
Jonathan, born on 21 September 2002, grew up in Bandra, Mumbai. He plays as an assaulter.
- Entity Gaming and TSM Entity (2019-2021): in the PUBG Mobile era, before BGMI existed, he won the PUBG Mobile India Series in 2020 with TSM Entity.
- GodLike Esports (2021-2026): four and a half years at the organisation. With GodLike he won Skyesports Championship 3.0 in 2021, where he was MVP, and played at the 2021 PUBG Mobile Global Championship, where GodLike finished 13th. He was Finals MVP when GodLike finished second at the BGMI Masters Series in 2022 and at BGIS 2025.
- Team Apex Gaming (2026-): he left GodLike in April 2026 and launched his own organisation. Team Apex Gaming reached the BMPS 2026 Grand Finals through the Last Chance Stage.
Away from tournaments, he became a Red Bull athlete in 2023, and his YouTube channel had 5.45 million subscribers by October 2023, according to The Indian Express.
What is BGMI?
Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) is the Indian version of PUBG Mobile, made by the South Korean company Krafton. India banned PUBG Mobile in September 2020, and BGMI was launched in its place on 2 July 2021 on Android and on 18 August 2021 on iOS.
It is a battle royale game: up to 100 players drop onto a map, and individuals or squads of up to four fight to be the last ones standing.
BGMI was itself removed from the Google Play Store and the App Store on 28 July 2022 after a government order. Krafton announced its return on 19 May 2023, and players could get back into the game from 29 May 2023.
Krafton’s two main national tournaments are the Battlegrounds Mobile India Series (BGIS), which any team can enter through the qualifiers, and the invite-only BGMI Pro Series (BMPS).
For this year’s results, read our BMPS 2026 Grand Finals preview and how GodLike and Orangutan reached the PUBG Mobile World Cup.
Photo credit: Alamy