PUBG Corporation on Thursday announced that it is planning to launch PUBG Mobile game in the Indian market, months after being banned by the government due to national security concerns.
The immensely popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile app was among the 118 Chinese apps that the Indian government banned in September over security concerns. At that time, the mobile game was crowned with India’s top downloaded title having around 50 million users, reports suggest.
With its South Korean parent company Krafton, Inc., PUBG Corp also plans to make investments worth $100 million in India to cultivate the local video game, esports, entertainment, and IT industries, the company said.
To get the ban lifted, the South Korean developer has made the decision to no longer authorise the PUBG Mobile franchise to China-based Tencent Games in India. Confirming this on Thursday, PUBG Corp said it is preparing a new game— PUBG Mobile India, created specifically for the Indian market.
The Indian subsidiary will hire over 100 employees specialising in business, esports, and game development, PUBG Corp said. In addition to establishing a local office, the company will look to actively collaborate and leverage local businesses to strengthen its gaming service, it added.
The company also revealed plans to provide a secure and healthy gameplay environment alongside investments to cultivate local video game, esports, entertainment, and IT industries.
To assuage privacy and data security concerns, PUBG said it will conduct regular audits and verifications on the storage systems holding Indian users’ personally identifiable information to reinforce security and ensure that their data is safely managed. To build and foster a healthy gameplay environment, in-game content will be improved and tailored to reflect local needs, it added.
Various aspects of the game will be customized for Indian gamers, such as the game now being set in a virtual simulation training ground, new characters automatically starting clothed, and green hit effects to reflect the virtual nature of the game.
The PUBG Corporation, however, did not disclose the launch date of the game.