PUBG is no longer available on Google Play and the App Store, days after it was banned along with 117 applications of Chinese origin. At the time of writing, the game, be it PUBG Mobile or PUBG Mobile Lite, continues to work for those who have already downloaded it. Gadgets 360 has reached out to Tencent to comment on how long it will continue to work, and we will update if we receive a response.
Earlier on Friday, Tencent said it will commit to the government to bring PUBG back to mobile platforms. India is one of the largest markets for PUBG, with over 50 million daily active users, although the revenue share is much lower. PUBG had taken on even more prominence when India came under lockdown due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and the game is one of the only ways that friends can actively socialize with one another.
The government says that PUBG and other banned Chinese-origin apps are “detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity” of the country, and that it was receiving “many complaints from various sources, including various reports about the misuse of some mobile apps available on the platforms. Android and iOS to steal and surreptitiously transmit user data in an unauthorized manner to servers that have locations outside of India. ” Tencent says it takes data and user privacy seriously.
Since originally banned Chinese apps like TikTok are still blocked in the country, Tencent might have a hard time restoring PUBG Mobile on Google Play and the App Store in India. For what it’s worth, PUBG is still available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Of course, that’s a separate version of the game, developed by South Korea’s Bluehole.
Meanwhile, homegrown alternatives to PUBG have started to appear. Bengaluru-based nCore games that feature industry veteran Vishal Gondal among investors have announced that they will bring a game called FAU-G with the backing of actor Akshay Kumar. FAU-G is short for Fearless and United-Guards. The developers also said they would donate 20 percent of the game’s proceeds to the government’s Bharat Ke Veer fundraising initiative.
Should the government explain why Chinese apps were banned? We talked about this on Orbital, our weekly tech podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
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