PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG, which is very popular in India, is not a Chinese app. Yet why is it banned? The Center had earlier said that the ban on apps, including pubs, was for national security reasons and to prevent intrusion on privacy. PUBG is a South Korean origin app. But Tencent, a Chinese partner, was licensed to publish PUBG in India. Recognizing that Tencent’s presence was the reason for the ban, PUBG is now exempting the Chinese company.
One question that was highly relevant at the time of the ban was whether PUBG was a Chinese game. You need to know the history of PUBG to know if PUBG is Korean or Chinese. The game was first co-founded by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of the South Korean gaming company Bluehole, and Irish game developer Brendan Greene. In 2017, the Chinese government banned PUBG, citing violence in the game. It is at this point that the Chinese company Tencent enters. Tencent Games acquired the rights to build the mobile version of PUBG from Bluehole. Today’s PUBG Mobile version arrived worldwide in March 2018. Yet the ban in China continued. Tencent launched PUBG in China in 2019 under the name Game for Peace, in line with government standards to overcome the ban.
Tencent and Bluehole work together for PUBG under the brand name Krafton Game Union. Profits are also shared. PUBG is a Korean-Chinese company. At the time of the ban, it was reported that 50 million people in India were playing PUBG Mobile. PUBG was played daily by 13 million active users. PUBG also had 175 million downloads. In other words, the ban on PUBG caused huge revenue losses to Tencent and Bluehole. PUBG Corporation is currently looking for suitable partners for live game publishing in India.
Will PUBG return to India devoid of its Chinese roots? This is the trending query among PUBG fans in India now.
