PUBG Mobile India remains without a launch date.
New RTI response indicates launch is still far-off.
PUBG Mobile was banned in India on September 2.
PUBG Mobile India launch remains uncertain as there has been no update from the developers since their last announcement. The government’s response to an RTI query has revealed that PUBG Corporation or Krafton Inc are not in talks about lifting the ban on PUBG Mobile in India. PUBG Mobile along with 118 other apps was banned by the Indian government on September 2 citing security and privacy concerns. In November, the developers of the game announced a special version called PUBG Mobile India that was being developed for the Indian audiences.
According to a report and RTI filed by GemWire, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology has responded saying that it has not ‘banned’ public access to PUBG Mobile Nordic Map: Livik app under the provision of Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The response indicates that the government has only ‘blocked’ access for specific apps including PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite and not PUBG as an entity.
The response also goes on to reveal that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) is not in any formal dialogue with either PUBG Corp. or Krafton Inc currently to lift the ban on the game in India. As per the report, the ban is not on other versions of PUBG Mobile such as the Korean version of the game and is instead on two specific apps.
PUBG Mobile India recently got Aneesh Aravind as its Country Manager who was appointed by Krafton Inc. Similarly, the company has been onboarding previous Tencent employees who were working on developing the game for India in its new team. PUBG Corp. has established an Indian subsidiary and also announced a partnership with Microsoft to use its Azure cloud services to store user's data. The developers also released a website and a teaser video featuring three popular PUBG Mobile players, Aaditya ‘Dynamo’ Sawant, Jonathan Amaral and Chetan ‘Kronten’ Chandgude. All of this, in a bid to resume its operations in one of its largest markets in the world.
Previous RTI responses have also revealed that the developers are yet to receive a go-ahead from the government to relaunch the game. PUBG India officials have reportedly tried to meet with the government but have failed to get any positive response yet. Meanwhile, the National Child Rights Association has opposed the launch of PUBG Mobile in India as it first wants appropriate legislations to be put in place for such games before allowing PUBG India to relaunch the game in the country.
PUBG Mobile India is a special version being developed keeping in mind Indian sensibilities and will have custom features like time restriction settings and more. You can read more about how PUBG Mobile was the highest-grossing mobile game of 2020 here. Additionally, we have tried to answer some frequently asked questions about the launch of PUBG Mobile India and you can read them here.
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