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

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.

According to the two sources, PUBG Corp has engaged with global cloud service providers over the last few weeks to store Indian users’ data within the country, thus allaying the centre’s concerns about user data residency and security. (PUBG Mobile)

PUBG Mobile was banned in India due to cybersecurity concerns in late June. Now, after all these months, the battle royale is plotting to make its return, according to TechCrunch.

According to the two sources who spoke to TechCrunch, PUBG Corp has engaged with global cloud service providers over the last few weeks to store Indian users' data within the country, thus allaying the centre's concerns about user data residency and security.

The company 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. Both sources who spoke to TechCrunch, requested anonymity as “they are not authorised to speak to the press”.

Going by reports, PUBG Corp could be making an announcement about its future plans for India as soon as this week. One of the sources also mentioned that the company also plans to run a marketing campaign in the country over Diwali next week.

PUBG has also engaged with local firms, including Paytm and Airtel to explore if they would be interested in publishing the PUBG Mobile in the country.

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 Mobile's return, if and when it happens, will be massive for all its fans here. However, it will complicate matters for all those industry players who are currently building similar battle royale games to fill the current void and are in conversations with venture capital firms for financing.

Also, if PUBG Mobile in fact does manage to return, it could mean that the whole list of the 200 plus Chinese apps that have been banned in India could hope to allay the Indian government's concerns by making some changes to where they store users' data.