Is PUBG returning to India in a new avatar?

Gamers in India have much to rejoice! The massively popular mobile game PUBG is finally returning to India.

This time though, it's coming in a new avatar - by the name of Battlegrounds Mobile.

After the game was banned in September 2020 for having connections to a Chinese company Tencent, the game's developer Krafton has made a slew of changes to comply with India's policies.

One, it has severed ties with Tencent.

Two, it has moved the game's hosting to data centres within the country.

Three, it changed the colour of blood in the game from red to green.

One and Two solved two of the major obstacles the game faced earlier. Indian government's major justification for the ban was that it had concerns about where the users' data was transmitted. It was alleged then that the Chinese government had somehow gotten hold of it.

Also, remember: the ban had come during a time of growing tensions between India and China.

In May last year, there was a skirmish on the India-China border, resulting in several casualties on both sides.

Close to 200 apps including PUBG were banned by the Indian government citing security threats.

Changing the colour of the blood in the game from red to green was in response to growing allegations that depictions of violence in games enflamed young children.

None of these changes, however, impact gameplay. Battlegrounds Mobile is identical to PUBG.

You don't even need a new account to play the game. You can use your old one.

Krafton has not announced a release date yet, but considering that beta-testing takes a month or two, we can expect the game to hit app stores in September.

We know pre-registrations are already open. Doing so will automatically download the game onto your device on its release. Make sure you carve out at least 1.5 GB of space for the game though.

Let us know if you'd be downloading it and playing the game again or if you've found better games worth your time.