PUBG Corp, the original developer of the now-banned PUBG Mobile, was in talks with Reliance Jio to stage a comeback in India. However, as per a report by Entrackr, talks with Mukesh Ambani-led telco have failed to reach a conclusive stage. The same report cites that the developer is now in talks with Airtel to take over distribution and relaunch the game in the country.
Also read: PUBG Mobile ban: you can still play PUBG in India if you have a Samsung or Xiaomi phone
Notably, after the ban last month, PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite were removed from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. More recently, the government of India made it clear that it has no plans to lift the ban as of now, and the developer has not initiated any communication to the ministry to lift the ban as well.
PUBG Corp in talks with Airtel to relaunch PUBG Mobile in India
PUBG Corp is reportedly in talks with Airtel to relaunch PUBG Mobile in India
As per Entracker‘s report, a source claimed that “PUBG is in an early conversation with Airtel for handing over distribution rights to the telecom giant. This desperation shows that PUBG has been trying hard to get back into the Indian market.”
Additionally, the report suggests that “The gaming platform is also busy in raising a lean team in India. It has been interviewing candidates with experience of under 4 to 6 years.” The efforts by the developer are justified by the fact that India is one of the largest markets for the game with 33 million active users before the ban. The country has contributed around 30 – 35 percent to PUBG’s overall downloads in the past four to five months.
According to Sensor Tower, PUBG Mobile’s global downloads in the month of September fell by 26 percent due to the ban in India. The game was downloaded around 10.7 million times globally, down from 14.6 million in August. It remains to be seen how things turn out for the popular battle royale game.