- Arunachal Pradesh MLA has demanded a Battlegrounds Mobile India ban.
- In a letter to PM Modi, Ering points out that Battlegrounds Mobile India is nothing but a PUBG Mobile relaunch.
- Battlegrounds Mobile India release date is yet to be announced.
Battlegrounds Mobile India ban has been demanded by Arunachal Pradesh MLA Ninong Ering in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The three-page letter was posted on Twitter and it states that Battlegrounds Mobile India launch is a way to “sidestep the laws and deceive the government and Indian citizens.” According to Ering, Krafton is attempting to relaunch PUBG Mobile by simply changing the name and offer minor modifications, which he calls an “illusion and a trick”. Battlegrounds Mobile India release date has not been revealed yet, but rumours suggest the game will launch on June 10th or June 18th.
Also read: Battlegrounds Mobile India confirmed to feature PUBG Mobile’s Erangel map
Will Battlegrounds Mobile India be banned in India?
In the letter, Ering said that Chinese-based Tencent is the second-largest stakeholder in Krafton with a 15.5 percent stake. He adds that Krafton’s Indian employees are former Tencent employees. Ering also points to the Battlegrounds Mobile India Play Store URL, which contains PUBG Mobile, something that was reported last week. Additionally, the MLA states that Krafton has invested in Nodwin Gaming, which will host PUBG on its servers. Nodwin apparently has ongoing ties with Tencent.
The three-page letter essentially means to suggest that Battlegrounds Mobile Inda is nothing but a PUBG Mobile relaunch and is a “threat to the security of India and privacy of citizens”. Notably, Krafton is adding the same maps and weapons in Battlegrounds as seen in PUBG Mobile. On Sunday, 91mobiles spotted that PUBG Mobile’s Erangel map will feature in the upcoming game. Indeed, there seems to be a number of ties between Battlegrounds Mobile India and PUBG Mobile despite Krafton consciously not mentioning the latter anywhere on its website.
Whether these ties to PUBG Mobile will lead to a Battlegrounds Mobile India ban remains to be seen. To recall, PUBG Mobile was banned in India last year and Krafton had taken over publishing rights from Tencent. The game was then announced to launch as PUBG Mobile India. Krafton retitled the name to call it Battlegrounds Mobile India, but it seems PUBG Mobile’s traces still remain. It will be interesting to see if the Indian government pays heed to the MLA’s concerns.
