Tencent relinquishes rights to PUBG Mobile in India amid latest ban on Chinese apps
- Seoul-based PUBG Corp will take over all publishing responsibilities for PUBG Mobile in India
- It is the studio that developed and published PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for desktop personal computers and console gamers
Tencent Holdings has surrendered its rights to publish PUBG Mobile in India to the company behind battle royale hit PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, in a move that analysts expect to help the popular spin-off mobile game get around New Delhi’s latest ban on Chinese apps.
India last week banned 118 Chinese mobile apps, almost a third of which were video games, including PUBG Mobile. The government had initially banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat, in June when there were only two games in the list.
“Tencent confirms PUBG Corp will take on all publishing responsibilities of PUBG Mobile in India,” Tencent said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our existing cooperation with PUBG Corp in global markets other than India is not affected.”
Seoul-based PUBG Corp, formerly known as Ginno Games, is the studio that developed and published PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for desktop personal computers and console gamers. It is a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole, in which Tencent is the second-largest shareholder.
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PUBG Corp said in statement on Tuesday that it is “actively monitoring the situation around the recent bans of PUBG Mobile Nordic Map: Livik and PUBG Mobile Lite in India”.
The company said it “fully understands and respects the measures taken by the government as the privacy and security of player data is a top priority for the company”.