PUBG Mobile India May Not Launch in India Any Time Soon as Company Awaits Ministry Approval

PUBG Mobile India and its legions of fans have been seemingly counting days, with numerous reports in the interim suggesting that the game may be re-launched in India any day. However, such reports have been comfortably proven wrong, and there has been very little official confirmation coming from the company, in terms of when the game may be launched in India. Continuing on last week’s update where reports claimed that there have been no official intimation regarding clearing PUBG Mobile India for a relaunch in the country, a fresh report cites internal company sources, who have stated that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is yet to respond to the company’s request for a meeting that seeks clearance for the game to operate in India.

The sources have further stated that PUBG Mobile India’s promoters are “ready to comply to all norms set by the Indian government”, and it now awaits formal approval from MeitY to operate in India again. PUBG Mobile, along with PUBG Mobile Lite, was banned in India in September 2020 owing to its links with China. The latter occurred due to PUBG Mobile being backed by Chinese technology giant Tencent Gaming. Since the ban, PUBG Corp has isolated the game’s India operations from Tencent as its distribution partner, and also set up its official India subsidiary, PUBG India, showing greater intent in being operational in India again.

Reports now claim that PUBG’s India officials have “repeatedly requested” ministry officials to agree to a meeting with the company, as it hopes to alleviate any prior concerns of the game being linked to Chinese servers. It is important to note that the Indian government is yet to issue clearance for any of the 267 banned Chinese apps to operate in India again. The reason behind this are concerns around Chinese infiltration of Indian cyber space, owing to which popular apps such as TikTok, PUBG Mobile, AliExpress, CamScanner, Shareit and others have so far faced the axe.

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