PUBG Mobile and 116 other Chinese-origin apps and games were banned by the government.
PUBG Corporation, the unit of a South Korean company behind PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), announced today that it will no longer authorise Tencent Games the rights to publish its popular mobile game in India.
All publishing responsibilities within the country will now be handled by the company, PUBG Corporation, the developer of the battle royale game, said.
"Moving forward, PUBG Corporation will take on all publishing responsibilities within the country," the company said, adding that it was exploring ways to provide gaming experience to Indian users in the future.
"As the company explores ways to provide its own PUBG experience for India in the near future, it is committed to doing so by sustaining a localised and healthy gameplay environment for its fans," said PUBG Corporation, which is a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Krafton Game Union.
Tencent confirmed that PUBG Corp would take on the responsibilities of publishing the mobile game in India. "Our existing cooperation with PUBG Corporation in global markets other than India is not affected," Tencent said in a statement.
The new move comes days after PUBG Mobile and 116 other Chinese-origin apps and games were banned by the Indian government for being "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity" of the country. The government had said that it has received "many complaints" about misuse of these mobile apps for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India."
According to a report, India is one of the biggest markets for PUBG with over 13 million daily active users. The extremely popular smartphone game has amassed 175 million downloads in India. This accounts for 24 per cent of its lifetime downloads, according to Sensor Tower, a company that analyses mobile app trends.
Shortly after the ban, Tencent had said it would engage with Indian authorities to ensure the continued availability of its apps in India.
PUBG Corporation is the developer and publisher of PUBG that is meant for PC and console gamers. The South Korean firm, however, created PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite in collaboration with Tencent Games.
With inputs from agencies