PUBG Mobile plans to relaunch in India with new game and $ 100 million investment

The PUBG Corporation says it plans to launch a new PUBG Mobile game in India, after being banned in the country in September due to the mobile app’s links to Chinese Tencent. At the time of its ban, the game was the most downloaded title in India, with some 50 million users.

The South Korean developer said he would create a new Indian subsidiary to oversee the title and that the game “would maximize data security and meet local preferences.” The company also pledged to invest $ 100 million in India’s “gaming, esports, entertainment and computer industries”, although it offered no date for the game’s launch.

The news, reported by TechCrunch, NDTV, and others, is important to India’s digital ecosystem, suggesting a possible return for apps and games banned in the country due to security concerns. In the same way PUBG Mobile, which was developed by Chinese tech giant Tencent in India has also banned TikTok, WeChat and other Chinese apps. The government cited complaints it has received about such applications “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting user data in an unauthorized manner to servers located outside of India.”

By severing ties with Tencent and locating the development and storage of data for PUBG Mobile, the PUBG Corporation may be able to appease Indian digital regulators. This would be a significant increase in the company’s revenue, given that PUBG Mobile was India’s top-grossing game in the country at 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 noted, however, that the relaunched game would have certain elements “customized for Indian players”. These include characters who start out fully clothed, green liquid replacing blood, and framing the game as taking place in a “virtual simulation training ground,” not in real life. There will also be limits on how long players can use the game “to promote healthy gambling habits for young players,” the company said. Video game analyst Daniel Ahmad Noted on Twitter that these were all changes to the Chinese version of the game developed by Tencent.