Krafton says India revoked ban on its battle-royale game

KRAFTON

19/05/2023 07:06

(Adds details from statement in paragraph 4, and background in
paragraph 2, 3, 5 and 6)
       May 19 (Reuters) - South Korea's Krafton Inc
 259960.KS , a company backed by China's Tencent  0700.HK  on
Friday said it received approval from Indian authorities to
resume its popular battle-royale format game in the country
after being banned for nearly a year.   
    The government had in July blocked Krafton's title
Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), citing concerns about its
data-sharing and mining in China. 
    BGMI had more than 100 million users in India at the time of
removal. Following a government directive, the app was removed
from Alphabet Inc's  GOOGL.O  Google Play Store and Apple Inc's
 AAPL.O  App Store.
       A Facebook page for the title says the game will be
available for download soon.
  
    New Delhi had, back in 2020, banned another Krafton title,
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) following which the company
launched BGMI.
        India had ramped up scrutiny of Chinese businesses since
a 2020 border clash between the neighbours that led to a ban of
more than 300 Chinese apps, including TikTok. The government
also intensified the scrutiny of investments by Chinese firms.
  
            
  
        
  

 (Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann
Thoppil)
 ((Mrinmay.Dey@thomsonreuters.com;))