Two years after the PUBG Mobile ban, Battlegrounds Mobile India was also removed from the app store due to “national security concerns”.
Battlegrounds Mobile India, the country’s version of PUBG Mobile India, has been blocked by the government. The product was unexpectedly removed from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The game was launched last year in India to replace Tencent’s PUBG Mobile version with some tweaks to serve the South Asian country market.
BGMI was removed from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store allegedly under Section 69A of the Technology related code, the same Act that was invoked in 2020 to ban Chinese apps from India.
Although the game is no longer available for download, it is still playable in India for most current users. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for long. According to a report, there is currently a situation where users cannot play the game because of a server error. A message that says “server not responding. Please go back to the login page and try again” given by NPH game.
According to a Reuters report, citing an Indian government source, the ban stemmed from “national security concerns” surrounding data sharing and mining from China as PUBG developer, Krafton, which is 13.6% owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent.
The ban has not been publicly acknowledged by the Indian government, but Battlegrounds Mobile India is not yet available on Google Play or the App Store. However, a Krafton spokesperson confirmed that there is no intention of canceling the game and is waiting for new information.
PUBG Corp announced the Indian version of the title in November 2020 to address the ban, which Indian politicians also soon called for.
PUBG Mobile was honored as Mobile Game of the Year in 2018 at The Game Awards. It is one of the most popular games in India, where it competes for the highest grossing action game spot against Garena Free Fire and Call of Duty: Mobile.
However, the game has had ongoing problems with the Indian authorities. It was banned in 2020 along with 117 other apps based in China for violating the privacy of Indian users by illegally transferring their data to locations outside of India when the time is right. point that Tencent released.