PUBG Mobile India May Not Launch in India Any Time Soon as Company Awaits Ministry Approval

PUBG Mobile India and its legions of fans have been seemingly counting days, with numerous reports in the interim suggesting that the game may be re-launched in India any day. However, such reports have been comfortably proven wrong, and there has been very little official confirmation coming from the company, in terms of when the game may be launched in India. Continuing on last week’s update where reports claimed that there have been no official intimation regarding clearing PUBG Mobile India for a relaunch in the country, a fresh report cites internal company sources, who have stated that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is yet to respond to the company’s request for a meeting that seeks clearance for the game to operate in India.

The sources have further stated that PUBG Mobile India’s promoters are “ready to comply to all norms set by the Indian government”, and it now awaits formal approval from MeitY to operate in India again. PUBG Mobile, along with PUBG Mobile Lite, was banned in India in September 2020 owing to its links with China. The latter occurred due to PUBG Mobile being backed by Chinese technology giant Tencent Gaming. Since the ban, PUBG Corp has isolated the game’s India operations from Tencent as its distribution partner, and also set up its official India subsidiary, PUBG India, showing greater intent in being operational in India again.

Reports now claim that PUBG’s India officials have “repeatedly requested” ministry officials to agree to a meeting with the company, as it hopes to alleviate any prior concerns of the game being linked to Chinese servers. It is important to note that the Indian government is yet to issue clearance for any of the 267 banned Chinese apps to operate in India again. The reason behind this are concerns around Chinese infiltration of Indian cyber space, owing to which popular apps such as TikTok, PUBG Mobile, AliExpress, CamScanner, Shareit and others have so far faced the axe.

New Delhi: At a time when millions of Indians are going through a nail-bitig phase, waiting for the much-anticipated re-launch of PUBG Mobile India, any news regarding the gaming app doubles the excitement.

These 3 upcoming features will be exclusive for Indian PUBG gamers

• In the Indian version, the characters will not wear any provocative attire with new characters automatically starting clothed.
   
• For Indian version of the game, the hit effect will be locked to green, unlike the global or the Korean version. The green hit effects will reflect the virtual nature of the game.
   
• PUBG Mobile India will reportedly have a feature to limit the playtime thereby fostering healthy gaming habits amongst the youth.

Also Read: PUBG making India comeback with a staggering Rs 6 crore prize pool? Here is all we know

As per media reports PUBG Mobile India will officially be released in the first week of December. However, the Indian version of PUBG will be released only after the approval of the Government of India. According to reports, the Centre has already approved the official registration of the mobile game in India. This means that PUBG Mobile India is now a registered company as per the rules and regulations laid down by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The new company has been listed on the ministry’s website with a valid Corporate Identity Number (CIN) and registered office is in Bengaluru. 

The government banned the multiplayer action game PUBG on September 2 and it has been pulled out from both Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India following the directive from the Indian government.

Though PUBG Corp had officially confirmed that it is re-entering India market with the creation of an Indian subsidiary and a new game, the company had not specified any date. A lot of rumours had flooded the online platforms that the new game could be launched this month. However, there seems to be no official confirmation yet on the date of launch of the new game.

Interestingly, the APK version of PUBG Mobile India was released last Friday on the official website of the company for a couple of hours. The APK version was available for download but the gamers faced difficulties in downloading it. An APK version for some Android users was also released on last Friday.