PUBG Mobile will no longer be accessible to anyone in India as the makers of the popular game said that it is "terminating all service and access" for users in the country, in line with orders issued by the Union government earlier. "To comply with the interim order of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology dated September 2, 2020, Tencent Games will terminate all service and access for users in India to PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik and PUBG MOBILE Lite (together, “PUBG Mobile”) on October 30, 2020. The rights to publish PUBG MOBILE in India will be returned to the owner of the PUBG intellectual property," the company said in a statement on Facebook.
"Protecting user data has always been a top priority and we have always complied with applicable data protection laws and regulations in India. All users’ gameplay information is processed in a transparent manner as disclosed in our privacy policy. We deeply regret this outcome, and sincerely thank you for your support and love for PUBG Mobile in India," the statement added.
In September this year, the Indian government banned 118 apps over national security concerns, including PUBG Mobile, Baidu and a couple of virtual private networks (VPNs) that allowed access to TikTok, that was earlier banned. The action came after fresh Chinese incursion attempts in Indian territory at Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh. The popular game is distributed in India by China-based Tencent Holdings. PUBG had nearly 33 million users in India.
PUBG Mobile is the mobile version PUBG, an intellectual property owned and developed by PUBG Corporation, a South Korean gaming company. After PUBG became popular, Tencent, a Chinese conglomerate, joined hands with the company to market the product in China and started handling a large portion of its distribution in other countries, including in India.
The popular mobile game was taken down from both Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India following the directive from the government.
With IANS inputs