PUBG Mobile is extremely successful around the globe but the road has been very tricky to date. PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds was converted into the portable PUBG Mobile back in 2018 and even though the game was available globally, it faced certain hurdles in some regions. Recently, India was added to that list as the global variant will be replaced by a local version very soon.
PUBG Mobile currently has localized versions in five different regions namely China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and India. Although PUBG Mobile India is yet to be launched, the other four versions have been running for a long time.
According to Wikipedia, PUBG Mobile was waiting for approval in China for a long time and after some alterations, Tencent launched Game for Peace that met China’s content restrictions, such as eliminating blood and gore.
Similarly, the other three regions also have their own version of PUBG Mobile due to some unknown issues. India has joined the ranks to become the fifth Asian country to have its own PUBG Mobile. The game was banned in India due to user privacy and data security concerns and after a period of two months, it made a comeback in the country but still, the road to launch looks rocky.
PUBG Mobile India Timeline
PUBG MOBILE INDIA DETAILS:
The official announcement about the return of PUBG Mobile in India had a lot in store for the gaming and esports ecosystem in India. The release not only confirmed the comeback but also revealed a bunch of big updates. PUBG Mobile India is confirmed to have a green bloodstain effect and this feature is already available in the Korean version. Furthermore, the underage player base will face a time-limit to ensure health welfare. The user interface will also be slightly tweaked and the usual background will be changed to a virtual simulation training ground.
Apart from PUBG Mobile return, Krafton as a whole is entering India to set-up for a sustainable future in the country. The company revealed its plans to invest $100M in the country to contribute to the development of the Indian video game, esports, IT, and entertainment industries.
Krafton will establish a branch office in India and employ at least 100 people specializing in game development, business, and esports. This can be the company’s first step to set-up in India for the long haul. These investments will also largely contribute to the upcoming PUBG Mobile esports league in the country. This will be the first and biggest PUBG Mobile tournament with a league structure exclusively formatted for India.
PUBG MOBILE INDIA LAUNCH DATE SPECULATIONS
A large part of the community was constantly speculating one of the other launch dates for PUBG Mobile’s return in India. PUBG India revealed some teasers to hype up the news of its return in the country. Some prominent faces from the PUBG Mobile community were seen in this series of teasers and one of them, Kronten Gaming speculated that the game may return in India by 20th November but the official release is pending to date.
DATA MIGRATION BETWEEN PUBG MOBILE AND PUBG MOBILE INDIA
Several clips went viral on social media where claims were made that the user data from PUBG Mobile is being transferred to the PUBG Mobile India servers. This was one of the biggest revelations as the user data comprised of many valuable things. Some players had a skin inventory worth thousands of dollars and the normal stats and ranking information was also of utmost importance for every PUBG Mobile player.
This transfer could have solved these problems as players could just access their old accounts instead of creating a new one for the newly developed Indian version. No further developments regarding this lead were disclosed.
PUBG MOBILE INDIA SITE HIGHLIGHTS ‘DOWNLOAD’ OPTION
Soon after returning to India, the PUBG Mobile India website was back and working and some users witnessed something on this official site. Some users sighted the ‘Download’ button while scrolling through the website and hence it was speculated that the game would be available on the official site very soon. This, however, did not lead to any solid proofs about the launch itself and no further sightings were observed to date.
Also Read | PUBG Mobile India APK Download Button Appears
Another report suggested that PUBG Mobile India has already received an advanced clearance by Google Play Store and hence, the game would not be stuck in the review phase and will be directly published on its official release.
PUBG INDIA PVT. LTD. APPROVED BY GOVT. OF INDIA
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has approved the registration of PUBG India Pvt. Ltd., a privately held company under the registrar of companies. PUBG Corp. promised to set up a local office in India to overlook the regional operations and this registration was the first step towards achieving that goal.
Krafton also pledged to invest $100M in India to aid the regional office in establishing itself in the entertainment, IT, and video games sectors in India and to hire over 100 employees in the process.
“SELECTIVE INFLUENCERS HAVE ACCESS TO THE GAME” – MAXTERN
A famous PUBG Mobile content creator and influencer named Maxtern posted a tweet in which he stated that few people already have the access to this game and his audience can expect the first look of PUBG Mobile India on his channel. This tweet was deleted soon after it was posted and hence, the credibility of this information is questionable.
THE COMEBACK ROADBLOCKS
PUBG Mobile was banned alongside 117 other apps by MeitY under the pretext of these apps being “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, Defense of India and security of the state and public order.” The ban was imposed due to user security and privacy concerns and PUBG Corp. announced the return with these concerns as the top priority.
All of these measures seemed to be futile when reports suggested that the government won’t budge from their decision of lifting up the ban. According to TOI, their sources stated that the government is not planning to favor the PUBG Mobile return in India. The statement reads, “Unless they address the concerns, it will be difficult to grant any relaxation.”
Another piece of information was revealed after some days where a new report suggested that PUBG Mobile may not return as soon as the community was expecting. Their sources from MeitY stated that “the [PUBG] Corporation or any new entity in India has not been granted any permission to re-start operations in India.” Their source also added that game can not return back in India unless and until they have the permission of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology India to begin the operations.
Until now, these are the developments that took place in the story of PUBG Mobile’s return to India. While some have larger significance than others, most of these parts hint that the game is ready for launch and will be publicly available once the prevailing issues are resolved.
