NEW DELHI: After the app ban by India, PUBG Corporation, the unit of a South Korean company behind PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), has decided to no longer authorise the PUBG Mobile franchise to China-based Tencent Games in India.
PUBG Corporation will now take over all the publishing responsibilities of the game within the country.
This move may help the popular game to make a comeback in India, its biggest market by user base, as the Government's app ban exercise has so far targeted only Chinese companies.
"In light of recent developments, 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," the PUBG Corporation said in a statement.
It added that the Corporation fully understands and respects the measures taken by the government as the privacy and security of player data is a top priority for the company.
"It hopes to work hand-in-hand with the Indian government to find a solution that will allow gamers to once again drop into the battlegrounds while being fully compliant with Indian laws and regulations," the Corporation said.
On September 2, India decided to ban PUBG Mobile, PUBG Mobile Lite and other 116 Chinese-origin apps over cybersecurity concerns as geopolitical tensions between the two neighbouring nations continued to escalate.
For PUBG, the ban meant losing around 40 million monthly active users. Tencent had reportedly lost $34 billion in terms of market value, just a day after the ban was announced.
PUBG MOBILE is an intellectual property owned and developed by PUBG Corporation, a South Korean gaming company. PUBG Corporation is a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Krafton Game Union.
It is also the developer and publisher of PUBG that is meant for personal computers and console gamers. However, PUBG Mobile and PUBG MOBILE LITE, the two banned apps, were created in a collaboration between PUBG Corporation and Tencent Games.