PUBG Mobile has been banned for more than 5 months in India now and players are still waiting for the day the game comes back. In November, PUBG Mobile releases a teaser for the PUBG Mobile India version, preparing to release it around the Diwali festival. However, it hasn't been released until now and everyone thought that it was the government that prevented PUBG Mobile India from being released.

Recently, Gemwire decided to file an RTI, asking MEITY about the ban of PUBG Mobile in India. Below is the content of the RTI and the answer of MEITY.

Pubg Mobile Ban

Pubg Mboile Ban 1

What does this mean?

  1. Basically, MEITY didn't ban public access to PUBG Mobile, they just block access to the game.
  2. The block only applies to the specific app PUBG Mobile Nordic Map: Livik (PUBG Mobile global version) and PUBG Mobile Lite. That is why players can still freely play other versions of PUBG Mobile including PUBG Mobile Korean version and PUBG Mobile Vietnam version.
  3. PUBG has not done a formal dialogue with the MEITY.

So what the government did in the past was just simply block access to PUBG Mobile through internet providers and not ban it. If PUBG Mobile India is released now, it won't be blocked by the government because it is not the same app as the PUBG Mobile global version.

Pubg Mobile India 1607340300
PUBG Mobile India is still nowhere to be found

Another takeaway is that PUBG has not had any formal dialogue with the MEITY while PUBG claims to have done it in the past. It could be that PUBG has contacted another department of the government and not with MEITY.

It seems that there is nothing that blocks the comeback of PUBG Mobile in India now, maybe apart from PUBG Mobile themselves, and the game is still "Coming Soon".

Also check out: Interview With MortaL: How MortaL Keeps His Gaming Career Alive After The PUBG Mobile Ban