PUBG Mobile plans to re-launch in India with new game and $100 million investment

The PUBG Company says it plans to launch a brand new PUBG Cellular recreation in India, after being banned within the nation in September because of the cell app’s hyperlinks to China’s Tencent. On the time of its ban, the sport was India’s prime downloaded title, with some 50 million customers.

The South Korean developer mentioned it will create a brand new Indian subsidiary to supervise the title, and that the sport would “maximize information safety and cater to native preferences.” The corporate additionally pledged to speculate $100 million within the Indian “gaming, esports, leisure, and IT industries,” although it supplied no date for when the sport may really launch.

The information, reported by TechCrunch, NDTV, and others, is important for India’s digital ecosystem, suggesting a attainable means again for apps and recreation banned from the nation because of safety considerations. Together with PUBG Cellular, which was developed by Chinese language tech large Tencent, India additionally banned TikTok, WeChat, and different Chinese language apps. The federal government cited complaints it obtained about such apps “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting customers’ information in an unauthorized method to servers which have areas outdoors India.”

By chopping ties with Tencent and localizing improvement and information storage for PUBG Cellular, the PUBG Company may have the ability to mollify India’s digital regulators. It will be a major increase for the company’s revenues, on condition that PUBG Cellular was India’s prime grossing recreation within the nation across the time of its ban. Earlier this month, it was introduced that PUBG Cellular could be hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud.

The PUBG Company did notice, although, that the re-launched recreation would have sure components “custom-made for Indian players.” These embody characters beginning absolutely clothed, inexperienced liquid changing blood, and framing the sport as happening in a “digital simulation coaching floor,” not actual life. There may also be limits on how lengthy gamers can use the sport “to advertise wholesome gameplay habits for youthful gamers,” mentioned the corporate. Online game analyst Daniel Ahmad noted on Twitter that these had been all modifications made within the Chinese language model of the sport developed by Tencent.