Tencent Games loses rights to distribute PUBG Mobile in India

Post author:Srishti Pandey
Post published:September 8, 2020

Chinese gaming company Tencent Games loses rights to distribute popular battle royale game PUBG Mobile in India, the PUBG Corporation announced today.

“Moving forward, PUBG Corporation will take on all publishing responsibilities within the country. As the company explores ways to provide its own PUBG experience for India in the near future, it is committed to doing so by sustaining a localized and healthy gameplay environment for its fans,” the company said in a blog post.

The PUBG Corporation is a subsidiary of Bluehole Games, the South Korean company that developed PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (PUBG). “The company is actively engaged in developing and publishing PUBG on multiple platforms, including PUBG MOBILE in select territories, to provide the best player experiences possible,” the post stated.

The decision is a reaction to the ban enforced on the game by the Indian government last week. PUBG was part of 118 other Chinese apps that the government banned, following border clashes with China.

The ban has made Tencent one of the biggest losers, joining short-video platform TikTok, which was in the first wave of bans. According to industry experts, PubG Mobile made over $100 million from in-app purchases alone in India, in 2019.