PUBG Mobile is now on track to bring PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds back to smartphones in India. Ever since the game was banned from the country alongside over 100 apps back in September, players have been wondering how PUBG Mobile might return to India. The answer to that, PUBG Corporation announced today, is a brand new version of the game specifically tailored for the Indian market, known as PUBG Mobile India.
Following political tensions between India and China in recent months, PUBG Mobile ended being banned alongside more than 100 apps with Chinese ties due to cybersecurity concerns. Because of this, PUBG Corp. parted ways with the game’s Chinese publisher, Tencent, in the country and formed a new partnership to move its data over to Microsoft’s Azure servers. Elaborating on this in today’s announcement, the company said that it will conduct regular checks on the storage systems holding PUBG Mobile India’s user data to ensure their safety, stressing that maintaining user privacy is a “top priority.”
The Indian version of the game will also see various aspects of PUBG Mobile altered to better suit local tastes and “foster a healthy gameplay environment.” These changes will include having the game now take place in a virtual training ground, making new characters automatically start matches clothed, and implementing green hit effects to better reflect the new virtual simulation element. Additionally, the game will include a feature for restricting game time in order to “promote healthy gameplay habits for younger players.”
PUBG Corp. didn’t say when the game will actually become available again in India, merely stating that it will have more information regarding the release of PUBG Mobile India at a later date, but it did touch upon its plans beyond launch. It announced that it intends to partner with its parent company Krafton Inc. to invest $100 million USD into the Indian video game, esports, entertainment, and IT industries. This initiative will also see the establishment of an Indian subsidiary of PUBG Corp. that will hire over 100 employees, as well as a push to grow PUBG's esports presence in the country via large-scale tournaments.
It comes as little surprise that the company is trying to go the extra mile to get PUBG Mobile back in the hands of Indian gamers. Prior to the ban, PUBG Mobile was India’s most successful app, with nearly 200 million downloads and the highest revenue of any app on the market. In short, there’s a lot of money that stands to be made, and a lot of players who are looking forward to once more earning their chicken dinners.
PUBG Mobile is available for Android and iOS devices.