PUBG fans may have to wait longer, as Battlegrounds Mobile India may get a red flag prior to its launch. It has been almost a year since the Indian Government imposed a ban on PUBG, alleging its link with Chinese Government.
However, later on, Krafton, the developer of PUBG game announced that they are planning to launch an autonomous version of the game for India. The game was said to come in a new icon & name – Battleground Mobile India.
Last week Krafton opened pre-registration link for game enthusiasts & soon after, on May 18, it opened its registration-link for gamers. Even so, Krafton has not announced any official game launch, but some reports suggest the game might come into play on June 18.
Meanwhile all gamers across the country were waiting for the game launch, on Saturday i.e., May 22, former Union Minister & current MLA of Arunachal Pradesh, Ninong Ering, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting for a veto on Battlegrounds Mobile India launch.
MLA of AP, Ninong Ering in his letter to the Prime Minister, said that “the game ostensibly poses a risk to national-security, parallel to early PUBG mobile”. Ninong Ering on his twitter account wrote that “Battlegrounds Mobile India is nothing but a Chinese deception, and that it throws a major threat to security & privacy of country citizens”. The Minister also said that it is a way to evade & pass over our security laws & rules.
That being said, Ninong Ering also stated that Chinese-based company Tencent, is still the “2nd largest stakeholder” of the game with about 15.5% stakes in Krafton, which in one-way or another points towards Battlegrounds links to Chinese Government, ” as believed by MLA. To which Krafton, mentioned about its severed cords with Tencent games, and about their partnering with Microsoft Azure, for Battlegrounds Mobile India game distribution in the country.
MLA Ninong Ering also made it evident that Krafton has employed workers from Tencent Games & that Nodwin Gaming also shares some common links with Tencent games. He also mentioned that this brings the concern of unfolding of other banned apps i.e., Tik-Tok & WeChat as well.
Also, the Current Member of Parliament ,Abhishek Singhvi, also asserted that Battlegrounds Mobile India’s release may allow Tencent’s re-entry into the Indian gaming market, per a report by IGN India. Yesteryear, when Krafton announced re-entry of PUBG Mobile in country, the senior child rights body “National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)”, expressed its view saying that re-entry of PUBG Mobile in the country without establishing proper legislations would be totally inappropriate.
For now, neither Krafton, nor Nodwin has made a statement in response to MLA’s Ninong Ering open letter to the Prime Minister. However, we believe that his might put a halt on Battlegrounds Mobile India game launch.
Chetna Singh
A biblomaniac, with utmost love for reading, writing and painting. An asthete and altruistic.
