Amid escalating tensions between India and China due to border dispute, the Indian government banned several Chinese mobile applications and games in the country, including popular ones like TikTok and PUBG Mobile.
At the time, the game was published in India by the China-based internet giant Tencent. After the ban, PUBG Corp, which is a subsidiary of Krafton, severed ties with Tencent for the Indian market.
Now, South Korea-based Krafton is set to relaunched the PUBG Mobile game in India but under a different name. The game will soon be available in India as Battlegrounds Mobile India. Making the announcement, the company said: “Battlegrounds Mobile India will release with exclusive in-game events like outfits and features and will have its own esports ecosystem with tournaments and leagues. The game will launch as a free-to-play experience on mobile devices.”
As for now, Krafton has not set a timeline for the launch of the new mobile multiplayer game in the country. However, it is confirmed that the company will have a pre-registration period before launch.
The company is keeping its promise made in November last year for relaunching the game in the Indian market. It had announced that it would set an Indian subsidiary to launch an India-specific game and would invest around $100 million to revive its business in one of the largest markets in the world.
It will be interesting to see how Krafton manages to get a userbase in India for the upcoming Battlegrounds Mobile India game as, after the PUBG Mobile ban in India, players and esports organizations have shifted to other similar games such as Free Fire and Call of Duty: Mobile, among others.
