The PUBG Corporation announces it intends to launch a PUBG Mobile game in India, after obtaining banned in India in September due to the mobile app’s links to China’s Tencent.
At the time of its ban, the game was India’s top downloaded title, with approx 50 million users.
The South Korean developer stated it would build a new Indian subsidiary to manage the title, and that the game would “maximize data security and cater to local preferences.”
The company also promised to invest $100 million in the Indian “gaming, esports, entertainment, and IT industries,” though it allowed no date for when the game might genuinely launch.
The news, published by NDTV, TechCrunch, and others, is essential for India’s digital ecosystem, implying a possible way back for apps and games banned from the country due to security concerns.
Along with PUBG Mobile, which was acquired by Chinese tech giant Tencent, India also banned TikTok, WeChat, and other Chinese apps.
The Indian government cited complaints it took about such apps “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized practice to servers which have locations outside India.”
By making ties with Tencent and surrounding development and data storage for PUBG Mobile, the PUBG Corporation might be able to mollify India’s digital regulators.
It would be a vital boost for the corporation’s revenues, given that PUBG Mobile was India’s top-grossing game in the country throughout the time of its ban. Earlier this month, it was announced that PUBG Mobile would be hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud.
The PUBG Corporation took note, though, that the re-launched game would have some elements “customized for Indian gamers.”
These incorporate characters beginning fully clothed, green liquid replacing blood, and framing the game as the top place in a “virtual simulation training ground,” not real life.
There will also be limits on how long players can use the game “to promote healthy gameplay habits for younger players,” stated the company. Video game analyst Daniel Ahmad tweeted on Twitter that these were all changes performed in the Chinese version of the game developed by Tencent.
