The company’s statement to bring PUBG to the cloud focuses on data privacy and security, the two tenets that India used to block the game in the country.
“The collaboration will ensure that privacy rights are respected, and relevant software will be in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.,”
Krafton, the parent company of PUBG Corporation that owns popular battle royale title PUBG Mobile, has announced a global partnership with Microsoft in a bid to ensure the safety and security of its users’ data. According to a press note, the South Korean company would be working with the Microsoft-owned cloud computing service, Azure, to host its portfolio of multi-platform products. The list of products that will be available on Azure includes PUBG for PC and consoles as well as PUBG Mobile app that was banned in India in September over security concerns. However, the press note does not detail anything over PUBG Mobile’s possible return to India that had over 50 million monthly active users in the country prior to the ban.
Krafton further states that collaboration with Microsoft will ensure that privacy rights are “respected in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.” Last month, Tencent Cloud that published PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite apps in India had stated that the company is terminating access for users in the country in compliance with the order from the Indian government. Tencent in a post on Facebook had further claimed that the rights to publish PUBG Mobile in India would be returned to the owner of the “PUBG intellectual property,” that is, PUBG Corporation – a subsidiary of Krafton. The Facebook post added that protecting user data has always been its “top priority.”
Notably, a week after Tencent’s announcement, a report by TechCrunch indicated that PUBG Mobile is plotting to make a return to India before the end of this year. Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report added that PUBG Corp has engaged with global cloud service providers in recent weeks to store Indian users’ data within the country to allay the Indian government’s concerns about user data privacy and security. The TechCrunch report also highlighted that PUBG Corp has privately informed some high-profile streamers in India that it expects to resume the service very soon. At the moment, the company is yet to officially provide any details over its return, if at all. PUBG Mobile along with PUBG Mobile Lite app was a part of the 116 China-origin apps that faced a ban under section 69A of the Information Technology Act that aims to protect the “sovereignty and integrity” of India from foreign IT players.