India placed a ban on Tencent-published titles, which includes the publisher’s most popular game in the region, PUBG Mobile. PUBG Corp, however, isn’t taking this lying down. They are reportedly talking with Reliance to return the game to India.
Business Today reported this potential partnership, even saying that the two companies were in the “advanced stages” of negotiating revenue and planning localization. Since Reliance is already in India, it appears to be a perfect fit for what PUBG Corp needs to continue PUBG Mobile‘s success in India.
A reliable partnership
As a bit of circumstantial evidence that the report is true, Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani spoke highly about the future of gaming at a recent summit in Mumbai. He talked with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about the gaming industry’s surge in the entertainment industry. Nadella stated that he believes it will surpass film, TV, and music combined. It would make sense for Reliance to volunteer to help or even for PUBG Corp to reach out for publishing assistance.
India has the largest player base for PUBG Mobile than any other market. India wasn’t the biggest revenue generator for PUBG Mobile. Even so, India across the board is becoming one of the most rapidly growing markets in the gaming industry. It’s only natural for PUBG Corp to make sure it doesn’t lose its piece of the pie. This is especially true with how popular PUBG Mobile is in the region.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology banned Tencent due to India’s increasing hostility with China. Tencent wasn’t the only Chinese company that India banned, however. The ban reached all Chinese technology companies. PUBG Mobile was just one out of 200 apps that the ban affects. Other apps included in the ban are WeChat, the Chinese search engine Baidu, and Alipay, a mobile payment app.
