Cover-Credits:
- According to a report in InsideSport, despite registering itself with the MCA, PUBG Mobile will not be able to return until it gets approval from citing sources inside India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY).
- Just being recognized by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is not enough to authorize the relaunch of the game.
- PUBG Corp. has big plans for India, the company promised an investment of $100M USD in the ecosystem.
Despite PUBG officially registering PUBG India Pvt. Ltd with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the company has a long way to go before the mobile battle royale can return to the country. According to a report in InsideSport, citing sources inside India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), PUBG Mobile will not be able to return until it gets approval from this agency. A source told the publication that “there is no change in that stance at this stage". Just being recognized by one government agency is not enough to authorize the relaunch of PUBG Mobile. MEITY was behind the ban of the game so it will need its approval to return. “Any banned entity can’t operate just by floating a new company,” the source said. “This even TikTok or anyone else can do. They will have to get permissions from MEITY to operate once again in India.”
What Steps Is PUBG Mobile Taking To Return To India?
Following the game’s ban in the country due to ties with a Chinese publisher, PUBG Corp. parted ways with Tencent. The announcement said “PUBG Corporation has made the decision to no longer authorize the PUBG MOBILE franchise to Tencent Games in India. Moving forward, PUBG Corporation will take on all publishing responsibilities within the country. As the company explores ways to provide its own PUBG experience for India in the near future, it is committed to doing so by sustaining a localized and healthy gameplay environment for its fans.”
PUBG Corp also announced a bold plan to return to India at the beginning of this month, which included creating a new entity exclusive to the country, the relaunch of the game in the region, and the promise of a $100M USD investment in the ecosystem. Prior to that announcement, parent company Krafton announced that the company had partnered with Microsoft to use its Azure platform to provide local data servers and provide data protection.
RELATED: PUBG Mobile Announces $14 Million USD Prize Pool For 2021
This was followed by an announcement that PUBG Mobile would be hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud. PUBG Corp. announced plans to maximize data security and add other elements that would ‘customize’ the game for the Indian user. This included certain PG restrictions like having fully clothed characters, green blood splatter, and limits on playtime. PUBG Mobile India will frame itself as a ‘virtual training ground’, perhaps an attempt to distance itself from real-world mishaps related to the game. As industry analyst Danial Ahmad noted, many of these changes are the same as those in the Chinese version of PUBG Mobile called Game For Peace. It looks like PUBG Corp. is well on its way to fulfilling its promises of developing the gaming and esports industry in India.
