India unlikely to revoke PUBG ban despite Tencent license withdrawal - source
Reuters
Published Sep 25, 2020 01:30PM ET
Updated Sep 25, 2020 01:40PM ET
By Sankalp Phartiyal and Heekyong Yang
NEW DELHI/SEOUL (Reuters) - India is unlikely to revoke a ban on PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) following PUBG Corp's decision to withdraw the mobile game's publishing rights in the country from China's Tencent (HK:0700), a senior government official said on Friday.
PUBG, a popular online multiplayer battle game, was among 118 Chinese-origin mobile applications banned by New Delhi earlier this month.
That led PUBG Corp, the unit of a South Korean firm behind the game, to announce it would no longer give Tencent Games the rights to publish the game in India. It also said it was exploring ways to provide gaming experiences to Indian users in future.
The new ownership structure is, however, unlikely to change things immediately, said the source, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
"The violent nature of the game has been the cause of many complaints from all quarters," the source said. "That does not change with the change in ownership rights."
A spokeswoman for PUBG Corp in South Korea said the company was closely reviewing India's concerns and that it was ready to work on anything that needed improvement.
The company has also been in talks with Jio Platforms, the digital unit of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries (NS:RELI), to bring the game back in its biggest market by users.
"We had initial talks with Jio Platforms to seek for cooperation opportunities, but nothing has been decided yet," the PUBG spokeswoman told Reuters.
Reliance did not respond to a request for comment.
While officially New Delhi says it has banned the apps because they collect user data and pose a threat to national security, the move is widely seen as a way to pressure Chinese tech companies following a months-long standoff between India and China along a disputed Himalayan border.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.