PUBG Mobile's plans to return to India gain momentum with Microsoft deal

After getting banned in June earlier this year over cybersecurity concerns, PUBG Mobile is planning its return to the country and was in talks with global cloud service providers.

PUBG Corp has been looking to strike a deal with a cloud service provider to store Indian users’ data within the country, thus allaying the centre’s concerns about user data residency and security.

Now, Krafton, the parent firm of PUBG Corporation, has announced that it has signed a deal with Microsoft and will be using Microsoft Azure to host its portfolio of multi-platform products.

Krafton said that the deal will include “products directly operated by the company and its subsidiaries, including PUBG Corporation’s multiplayer battle royale Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) on PC and consoles, in addition to PUBG Mobile”.

Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud computing service that help game creators to build, run, and grow their games on a global scale.

Also Read: PUBG Mobile might be planning its India comeback, announcement expected soon

“With privacy and data security being a top priority for Krafton, the company will be working with Microsoft to ensure personal data protection through Azure” the company said, adding that the “collaboration will ensure that privacy rights are respected and relevant software will be in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations”.

Kafton added that to reinforce data security further, the company will be working with Microsoft to “introduce a verification process to ensure that storage of personally identifiable information of its players follows all appropriate requirements in the territories where Krafton and its subsidiaries operate gaming services”.

Chinese company Tencent was initially publishing the PUBG Mobile apps in India. After the game was banned, PUBG Corp cut publishing ties with Tencent for the country. Until the ban happened, PUBG Mobile’s content was hosted on Tencent Cloud.

PUBG Mobile terminated its service for Indian users in late October and the company had said at that point in time that “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”.

PUBG Corp has reportedly informed some of the high-profile streamers in the country, privately, that they expect to resume service in India before the end of the year. Now, with the deal with Microsoft, the return of the battle royale seems to be gaining some momentum.