Thread by @ZhugeEX

PUBG Corp's partnership with Microsoft to host PUBG and PUBG Mobile on Azure has led to speculation that the company made the move so that it can re-enter the India market, where the game was banned earlier this year

Going to do a quick thread on this 1/

techcrunch.com/2020/11/05/pub…

In case you missed this article I wrote, India has banned a number of Chinese published mobile games due to rising tensions between the two countries and potential national security issues.

PUBG Mobile was banned because Tencent is the dev and publisher.

nikopartners.com/indias-ban-of-…

Even with Tencent moving its servers / data to India, the game was still banned by the govt due to its Chinese affiliation.

As I noted at the time, the game was #1 in India by downloads / revenue. The the ban was a huge blow to both Tencent / PUBG Corp

https://twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/1301128003443986435?s=20

PUBG Corp has been looking for ways to bring the game back to India. PUBG is a Korean IP so it's understandable why they are upset with the ban, especially as India was a growing market for the game.

The main issue for PUBG Mobile is that Tencent is both the dev and publisher.

The Azure deal in the OP moves hosting of the game to a US company with data centres in India.

PUBG Corp also took over publishing duties of the game for the India market.

These moves are aimed at satisfying Indian regulators.

pubg.com/2020/09/07/pub…

However, there are still issues with this approach

1. The game was still banned, even when Tencent used local servers for data

2. Even with PUBG Corp (Korean) as the publisher, Tencent (Chinese) is still the developer

Although, the govt has only banned Chinese published games

To get the game back in India there are two options for PUBG Corp.

1. Go through a lengthy appeals process to assure regulators that there is no national security issues with the game and that Tencent's involvement would be minimal. If successful the game would be unbanned.

The second option is to launch a new custom version of the game for the India market, perhaps under a new name, in order to skirt the current ban of the PUBG Mobile app.

Regulators would of course investigate this instantly, and the custom ver. could end up banned too.

It remains to be seen which route the company will take, but it's clear that they want to get back into India as soon as possible, as per recent media articles.

I believe the best approach involves working with regulators to come to an agreement.

afkgaming.com/articles/mobil…