Mobile gamers disappointed as developer pulls plug on PUBG Lite version today

Tencent Games terminate access for users after Indian Government decides to ban the game

By IANS

Published: Fri 30 Oct 2020, 10:16 AM

PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite will no longer work for gamers in India starting from Friday, the company has announced.

Tencent Games, that owns the mobile game, said on Facebook that it "deeply regrets this outcome" and thanked PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite fans for their support in India.

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The company said on Thursday that "protecting user data has always been a top priority and we have always complied with applicable data protection laws and regulations in India. All users' gameplay information is processed in a transparent manner as disclosed in our privacy policy".

The announcement came on the back of the Indian government's decision to ban PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite on September 2.

The game was banned under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

PUBG Corporation recently announced that they are withdrawing their partnership with Tencent, and that they will work with the Indian government to look for a quick resolution.

PUBG game, which has more than 600 million downloads and 50 million active players globally, has nearly 33 million users in India.

PUBG Mobile saw a global revenue gain of $1.3 billion (roughly Rs 9,731 crore) in the first half of this year, bringing its lifetime collection to $3 billion (nearly Rs 22,457 crore) with the highest number of downloads in India which ranks at the top with 175 million installs as people stayed home owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

Additionally, the Indian gaming company nCore announced indigenous multiplayer action game FAU-G to fill the void of PUBG Mobile. FAU-G is slated to launch next month.