PUBG Mobile, a game that was not just a game but an emotion for Indian youth that brought players together and is credited for paving the way for Mobile Esports Scenario in India. The game was banned as per an announcement by the Government of India along with several other apps that pose a threat to user’s data security. The game, however, was still functional and playable as the game was taken down from Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India, but the servers remained operational. Well, all the tables turned today with PUBG Mobile announcing on its Official Facebook Page that PUBG Mobile will be terminating all services in India starting from 30th October.
The Official Announcement
PUBG Mobile posted on its Official Facebook page that -To comply with the Indian Government’s Orders, PUBG Mobile will be terminating all services in India. The publishing rights of the game in India will be given to Krafton Game Union – A subsidiary of Bluehole Media who owns the PUBG Game.
While the ban was announced in the first week of September, the game was actually in rumors of getting banned even weeks before, at the time when TikTok was banned in the country. In reflex to this, PUBG Mobile changed their Privacy Policy for Indian users not once, but twice and said that all data of Indian Users are stored locally in India and none of it is shared with third parties or other nations. This however was not enough for the GOI to be convinced about data security and hence imposed a ban on the game in early September.
In response to this ban, the game was taken off from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store in just a couple of days from India. PUBG Mobile immediately reacted to this ban by cutting off ties with Tencent Games, a Chinese Publisher responsible for the distribution of PUBG Mobile in India. The game was actually looking for an Indian Company to publish the game in India, and hence remained functional for a few weeks. PUBG constantly kept trying to find ways to bring the game back in the country as India is the largest market for the game all over the globe.
Users across India started preparing themselves for the ban by installing the Korean Version of PUBG Mobile. The Korean Version is actually published by PUBG themselves with no Tencent involved. This gave an impression to Indian Users that if the Global Version gets banned, they could still be able to enjoy their favorite game in India as the Korean Version was never listed in the list of banned applications by the GOI. This actually is way complicated, even if it seems very easy on-paper.
The termination of all services in India means that PUBG Mobile will be shutting down all of its servers in India. But users might think that they can play on other Asian servers right? We cannot confirm that as of now. After termination of all services in India, there is a possibility that users could play on other Asian servers unless PUBG Mobile decides to Geo-Block all IP Addresses from India. The geo-block also means that users playing the Korean Version of the game won’t be able to access the game at all. A VPN always remains the last solution to access a service that’s not available in your nation, but that’s not what we are talking about right now.
The termination of PUBG Mobile in India could have a positive effect as well. It creates a possibility that PUBG Mobile can bring an entirely fresh Indian Version of the game with a new publisher. This is the same scenario when PUBG was banned in China for being too violent, and in response to that, PUBG created a new Chinese version of the game named GameForPeace that does not contain the graphic sensitive blood-marks for an on-hit effect by weapons. Creating an Indian version of the game might seem like the last resolve for PUBG Mobile’s future in India, but these are just our speculations and we are not aware of what PUBG has up its sleeve to bring the game back in India.
As of today, the game remains banned in India with its services starting to get terminated today. The future of the game still remains uncertain in India and only time can tell whether the game will come up with an Indian version or will PUBG Mobile convince the Government of India about the data security of Indian Users, for the upliftment of the ban imposed on PUBG Mobile.
