PUBG Mobile banned again in India

Battle Ground Mobile India, a rebranded version of PUBG Mobile, has been banned in India reportedly due to national security concerns. Although the game has been removed from Google Play Store and App Store, the servers are still active for players who already have it installed.

Battlegrounds Mobile India, the popular battleground game by Krafton has been taken down from the Google Play Store and App Store. Google has confirmed that BGMI has been taken down from their platform as per instruction from the Indian government, while Apple has not spoken since taking the game down from the App store.

“On receipt of the order, following the established process, we have notified the affected developer and have blocked access to the app that remained available on the Play Store in India,” a Google spokesperson said in an interview. 

The Indian government hasn’t made any formal statements on the ban, but according to a Reuters report, BGMI has been banned under Section 69A of the IT Act. In the interest of national security, Section 69A gives the government the authority to restrict public access to any websites or applications. Under the same provision, the Indian government banned PUBG Mobile and several other Chinese apps in 2020.

Krafton’s subsidiary PUBG Corporation announced before the relaunch that it would not license the PUBG Mobile franchise in India to Tencent Games. Krafton also made a number of other adjustments to PUBG’s return to the Indian market, like moving the game’s data to Microsoft Azure servers to further separate itself from Tencent. After taking over all publishing rights in India, Krafton and PUBG Corporation relaunched PUBG with a new title, BGMI.

It is hard to tell whether the ban is permanent or only a temporary suspension to comply with Indian laws since no official statement has been released by the government. Krafton, however, confirmed the delisting via Twitter, with the studio seeking clarification on why the ban was imposed.

Uncertainty surrounds BGMI’s future in India 

A week ago, news of a 16-year-old kid allegedly killing his mother for restricting him to play BGMI shocked the nation. Since the Rajya Sabha, ​​the upper house of Indian parliament brought up the subject, members of parliament have been debating whether or not battleground games are harmful to young people’s mental health.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has addressed the problem by stating that the previously restricted apps are reemerging with similar sounding names and the same functionality. BGMI’s ban, however, will come as a significant blow to Krafton given their repeated attempts to keep the game available there.

Header: Krafton