Krafton recently released early access to Battlegrounds Mobile India. Even with limited availability, the game has already received more than 5 million downloads. On the day when Krafton was celebrating this big milestone, it also got bad news. The game has been caught sending and receiving data from China Mobile Communications servers located in Beijing. This could hurt the company because several notable personalties have already asked the government to ban the game for its China links.
When the game loads on the phone, it pings a Tencent server in Beijing. Then it also keeps communicating with different servers located in China. Some reports confirm that the game basically uses the cloud computing platform of Tencent and Tencent’s anti-cheat service. These services run on servers located in China. This could be the reason why the game actually communicates with Chinese servers. But the company should come forward and clarify.
If you look at the terms of services posted on the Battlegrounds Mobile India website, it confirms that the users’ data will be stored and processed on servers based in India and Singapore. It also mentions that the company may “transfer your data to other countries and/or regions to operate the game service and/or to meet legal requirements.”
When Krafton announced the Battlegrounds Mobile India, it confirms that the privacy and security of Indian player data will be a top priority. At this point, we cannot say what data this game sends to Chinese servers.
Battlegrounds Mobile India is actually the slightly altered version of PUBG Mobile that banned by the Indian government last year. Battlegrounds Mobile India’s Google Play Store package also uses PUBG Mobile term confirming links to PUBG Mobile. Tencent also owns a 15.5 percent stake in Krafton making it the 2nd biggest shareholder. So, Battlegrounds Mobile India is linked to Tencent and PUBG Mobile directly.
A few days back, Ninong Erin requested Prime Minister to ban the game even before the game was released. Today, CAIT Secretary-General has written a letter to Ravi Shankar Prasad and requested him to ban Battlegrounds Mobile India. The game is only available in early access and we can’t say when it will be available to everyone. Seeing the controversies around the game, we are doubtful about the future of the game in the country.
