Battlegrounds Mobile India ban likely? Telangana MP demands probe into Krafton's link with China's Tencent

Krafton is likely to launch the Battlegrounds Mobile India on June 18, but can it now?

The comeback of PUBG Mobile to India as Battlegrounds Mobile India is not going well with some politicians. Although there is no launch date, Krafton is still very much going ahead with the release of Battlegrounds Mobile India. It is nothing but a rebadged PUBG Mobile, so launching it is an indirect circumvention of the government’s ban on Krafton’s smash-hit battle royale game last year. This has irked some people now. After the MLA from Arunachal Pradesh, a Member of Parliament from Telangana expressed concerns over Battlegrounds Mobile India. But, unlike before, the MP has demanded a probe into the relationship between Krafton, the company that owns PUBG IP, and Tencent, the company that publishes PUBG Mobile. Arvind Dharampuri, MP from Nizamabad in Telangana, has written to Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Information Technology, urging him to launch scrutiny into the ties between Krafton and Tencent. Tencent is the company that publishes PUBG Mobile globally. And even though last year’s ban led to a falling out between Krafton and Tencent just for India, the two companies are still very much in regular business elsewhere. So, technically, the probe that Dharampuri has demanded is not completely baseless. In a letter sent to the IT Ministry, per Zee News, Dharampuri said that he had received a plea against the game from a local social activist, Sai Kumar. The letter is mainly about the Terms of Service and privacy policy of Battlegrounds Mobile India. Kumar has mentioned that even though the data of Battlegrounds Mobile India users will be stored in India and Singapore, there is a possibility of data transfer between international servers. Moreover, the Terms of Service of Battlegrounds Mobile India are governed by the laws of South Korea, the country Krafton belongs to. And the biggest concern expressed in the letter is over the relationship between Krafton and Tencent. According to the demand, the IT Minister should scrutinise Krafton’s investments and its agreements with China’s behemoth Tencent.