PUBG Mobile May Return to India As Game-Maker Eyes Microsoft Deal

PUBG was banned in India on 4 September after the IT Ministry deemed the game to be a threat to national security.

PUBG Mobile was banned in India on 4 September. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Diwali time this year could be even more joyous for PUBG fans in India if the rumours around the mobile multiplayer game are true.

As per a Techcrunch report, PUBG Mobile could make a comeback to India after the game’s developers struck a deal with American tech giant Microsoft to host the game on its servers.

Krafton, the game’s creator and the parent company of PUBG corporation recently penned a deal with Microsoft. As part of the deal, games crated by Krafton or its subsidiaries, including PUBG Mobile, will be hosted on Microsoft Azure from now.

This announcement comes a few days after Tencent Games, publisher and distributor of PUBG Mobile, terminated all of its operations and services in India. Prior to the ban, PUBG Mobile was hosted on Tencent Cloud.

How Can PUBG Mobile Come Back In India?

“With privacy and data security being a top priority for KRAFTON, the company will be working with Microsoft to ensure personal data protection through Azure. Azure powers some of the biggest multiplayer games, featuring state-of-the-art security and the most comprehensive set of compliance offerings of any cloud service provider. The collaboration will ensure that privacy rights are respected and relevant software will be in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations,” the company said in a statement.

The report also says that PUBG has privately been in touch with some of the high-profile PUBG gamers in India and had informed them of the possibility of the game resuming services before the end of 2020. There has been no official word on this from the company.

PUBG Corporation could make an announcement of their official return in the next few days. The company aims to run a marketing campaign for the game during the Diwali week and also has plans to discuss its future plans in the country.

Not long ago, PUBG was rumoured to be in discussion with local firms like Paytm, and Airtel to explore the possibility of collaborating with them to get the game back into India.

What If PUBG Comes Back?

There is the flipside to the popular multiplayer game making a comeback for other game developers who are currently vying for that top spot in India.

PUBG had more than 50 million active users in India which means that most of the loyalists would return to PUBG as soon as it’s out. Not only that, the esports ecosystem in India which PUBG was actively a part of will also see a resurgence in terms of events, online gaming activity and streamers would be back to posting their gaming content online.

This would also complicate things for developers like Bengaluru-headquartered nCore Games who are expected to release their own version of a multiplayer combat game called FAU-G.

The company has invested a lot in the game while even roping in a celebrity like Akshay Kumar to endorse the game. The only thing in favour of FAU-G is that ‘aatmanirbhar’ sentiment that swept the county after India’s clash with China.