How did PUBG mobile India got Approved to Relaunch

PUBG mobile India was banned by the Government of India last year. However, there have been talks over the social media that the game would have a comeback in the country and there were recently some videos circulated through the social media about the relaunch of PUBG in the country. Let’s look at how PUBG mobile got permission to launch in India again.

PUBG Relaunch in India
About the Past Ban
Approval by the Govt.
FAQ

PUBG Relaunch in India

The popular battle royale game PUBG mobile India is said to relaunch in India but with a new game and a new title name. According to the teasers which were released on the social media by the developers of the game the new version of the game could be called as Battlegrounds Mobile India.

This will be an exclusive version of the game which will be launched for Indians. It is seen that the names of PUBG mobile India on YouTube and Facebook have already been changed to Battlegrounds Mobile India. This makes it more likely for the name to be changed. The official launch date of PUBG is still not yet out, but according to a theory there are speculations that it will be released on 10 June.

About the Past Ban

In September 2020 the popular battle royale game PUBG mobile was banned in the country, it was because the license for running the game was held by a Chinese company named Tencent. The reason for the ban was because of the high tension between India and China.

Along with hundreds of Chinese Apps, the Government of India has banned PUBG mobile regarding certain concerns such as prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state and public order and defense of India.

Since the ban, the developers of PUBG Krafton Inc. have cancelled the license of Tencent and had decided to launch the game under the own name of PUBG Corporation instead of Tencent.

Approval by the Govt.

PUBG Mobile India has not got any approval to relaunch in India but it is seen that they wouldn’t require any permission to relaunch in the country. It is to be noted that the Government of India has not yet approved the launch of the game in India yet.

The Indian Government had said that it has not provided any permission in order to start a website or mobile apps or any service in the country. They conveyed this information in a reply towards a Right to Information (RTI) query which was enquired by information technology policy portal Medianama.

The above sentence means that the battle royale game PUBG has not received any permission from the Indian Government but it also conveys that the game does not require any prior permission from the Government of India according to the response by the Indian Government.

They wouldn’t require the permission from the government if the game is launched under the new entity and in this case PUBG mobile is planning to launch the game under PUBG Corporation instead of Tencent Games.

None of this has discouraged the company. The company has conveyed that it has plans to set up and start a new subsidiary company in India. The company is expected to have a local office, around 100 employees and is expected to have an investment of USD 100 million.

The registration of the company is a step taken by the company to ensure the government that the information collected by the users of the mobile application will remain inside the borders of the country. The company is said to have signed a deal with Microsoft for Azure cloud since they have two functional data servers in the country.

FAQ

Why was PUBG banned in India?

The reason that PUBG Mobile India was banned was India-China standoff at Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the presence of the Chinese entity - Tencent.

When was PUBG banned in India?

PUBG was banned in India on September 2, 2020, along with another 117 Chinese apps.

Is PUBG relaunching in India?

Yes South Korean gaming company Krafton will relaunch the India version of its popular game - PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), for mobile users in a new avatar called Battlegrounds Mobile India.

Conclusion

The reason why the Government of India has not given permission may be because the version is banned by the Government and giving permission for one company would give hopes for other companies since they would also provide hopes for others.