Indian Government Confirms PUBG MOBILE Ban Will Remain, PUBG Corp. is in Talks With Reliance Jio
A senior government official in India has confirmed that the ban on PUBG MOBILE will not be lifted anytime soon, though the official cited a different reason for the ban remaining in place: the violent nature of the game.
The unnamed official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter told Reuters that PUBG Corp. severing ties with Chinese publisher Tencent Games will not change anything anytime soon, and that the ban remains due to complaints about its violent content.
“The violent nature of the game has been the cause of many complaints from all quarters,” the source told Reuters. “That does not change with the change in ownership rights.”
A PUBG Corp. spokesperson also confirmed that the company has been in talks with Indian telecom Reliance Jio, but those talks are ongoing.
“We had initial talks with Jio Platforms to seek for cooperation opportunities, but nothing has been decided yet,” the PUBG spokeswoman told Reuters.
Earlier this week reports surfaced that talks were ongoing with the Mumbai-based telecom company, though both PUBG Corp. and Reliance declined comment at the time. Also this week, a report noted that another government official said that India would not lift its ban on PUBG MOBILE and was not in active discussions with stakeholders of the game.
PUBG MOBILE and 117 other Chinese apps were banned from iOS and Android mobile app stores on Sept. 1. This ban followed a June 15 ban on 59 Chinese apps including Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Clash of Kings. Call of Duty Mobile was one of the few games with ties to Tencent that did not get banned in India.
All of the Chinese apps removed from iOS and Android app stores were targeted because of escalating border tensions between India and China.
PUBG MOBILE is one of the biggest esports in the country and one of only a handful of properties with a vibrant ecosystem of esports teams, players, tournament organizers, endemic and on-endemic sponsors, and partners committed to the game.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this report referred to “Reliance Jio” as “Reliant Jio” in the title and the body of the story. The story has been updated with a correction.
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