The South Korean maker of the popular mobile game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG, is looking to partner with an Indian gaming company in an attempt to resurrect its fortune in its largest market.
This comes shortly after PUBG Corp. severed ties with Chinese gaming firm Tencent Games after PUBG was listed among 118 Chinese apps banned by the Indian government as part of a broader military, political and economic response against China. after deadly border clashes in June.
A person familiar with the negotiations said that a new license agreement with an Indian gaming company is in the works to transfer the rights to run the PUBG Mobile game in India.
Unlike before, PUBG Corp. will now retain the publishing rights to the game, and the Indian partner will handle the distribution.
PUBG did not respond to emailed inquiries mint. PUBG Corp. is a unit of South Korea’s Bluehole Games.
It is certainly not yet known whether a possible deal with an Indian company will lead to the lifting of the ban imposed by the government.
“Ownership is just one of the concerns. But there are several other problems, on the basis of which the ban was ordered. The concerns are related to the security of data privacy, activity within the phone, etc. “said a senior government official. mint on Tuesday. After the ban was imposed, the government sent more than 70 inquiries to PUBG, to which the company must respond within three weeks.
In a statement on Monday, PUBG Corp. said it “looks forward to working” with the Indian government and for the app to be operational again.
According to industry executives, there are very few companies in India that can operate a game as big as PUBG. Among them, Paytm First Games already has a partnership with Garena Freefire, a competitor of PUBG. While there have been rumors that Reliance Jio will take over the PUBG license in India, there is no confirmation so far. Jio did not respond to inquiries.
The ban on Chinese apps in India has made Tencent one of the biggest losers, joining the short video platform TikTok, which was previously banned.
According to industry insiders, PUBG Mobile earned over $ 100 million in 2019 from in-app purchases in India.
Oliver Jones, CEO of Bombay Play, a game development company, said that the Indian publisher of PUBG Mobile should be responsible for developing country-specific content, handling PUBG tournaments and locating user data.
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