PUBG Mobile bows out of India

Chinese company Tencent Games on Friday said it was terminating all services and access for PUBG Mobile users in India to comply with the government’s order of last month.

On September 2, India banned 118 mobile apps with Chinese links, including popular game PUBG Mobile, citing data privacy concerns and a threat to national security.

This took the total count of Chinese-linked mobile apps banned by India to 224.

"Tencent Games will terminate all service and access for users in India to PUBG Mobile Nordic Map: Livik and PUBG Mobile Lite, together with 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," PUBG Mobile India page said on a social media website.

PUBG Mobile is an action themed online game originally developed by PUBG Corporation based in South Korea. Tencent has the right to publish mobile versions of the game in India.

While the mobile version is blocked in India, the website is still accessible as it is operated by the South Korean firm and owner of the game.

"Protecting user data has always been a top priority and we 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 support and love for PUBG Mobile in India," it said.

Photograph: Thomas White/Reuters.