It took a while but PUBG Mobile is back in India. However, it’s returning as Battlegrounds Mobile India. The game is developed by Krafton and made exclusively for players in India. As expected, it’s a battle royale game where different players fight it out to be the last person standing.
Pre-registration on Google Play started back in May of this year. It then entered Early Access by June. Exciting as this is, it seems that this free-to-play multiplayer game is only offered on the Play Store, at least for now.
In a post, Krafton CEO CH Kim shared that they are more than happy to introduce the game to its fans in India. Kim added that while the game is still new, players can expect new content, collaborations, and of course, esports tournaments. He went on to say that they hope everyone can enjoy Battlegrounds fully.
The Ban
It was back in September of last year when India started banning Chinese-made apps. While the government has security concerns, many pointed out that the main issue is the increasing tensions between the two countries. This was aggravated when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the Himalayas back in June. Among the apps banned were Tiktok and PUBG Mobile. At this time, it was being distributed by Tencent.
The ban had been difficult considering its popularity in India, having at least 40 million active players. PUBG Mobile was included in the ban and not a complete surprise. It had been on the sights of government officials, who deemed the title for having "a negative impact" on the lives of the country’s young people.
PUBG Mobile was officially pulled out from India by October 30, with all services and user access terminated. Helping with the decision was an interim order released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India.
To pave the way for a possible return, PUBG Corp. ended its relationship with Tencent to re-release the game in India. As a result, the company would now be responsible for the game with the help of Microsoft Azure data centers.
