PUBG and BGMI Are the Same, Tencent Misled Indian Government, Should Be Banned: NGO

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (aka PUBG), and Battlegrounds Mobile India (aka BGMI) are the same, and Tencent has misled the Indian government, a non-profit organisation called Prahar has claimed. Calling for a ban on BGMI/ PUBG, a top executive of the NGO has alleged that there is no company called Krafton India. BGMI is an Indian version of PUBG Mobile, which was launched exclusively for players in India after the government banned PUBG Mobile in the country. The battle royale game is developed and published by Krafton.

Abhay Mishra, President of Prahar wrote in a letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) that as per documents available with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), the only Krafton in India is a paper manufacturing company with no relation to Krafton of South Korea (developers of BGMI). Mishra said in the letter that Krafton authorised Hyunil Sohn to represent the company, the same person who is authorised to represent PUBG India -- deducing that Sohn represents the Chinese company Tencent in India.

“In a board of Directors Council Meeting of Krafton Inc, in a resolution dated 26th November, 2021, Hyunil Sohn was named to represent Krafton in relation to Battlegrounds Mobile India. At the same time on November 26, 2021, PUBG India Pvt. Limited, in a board resolution, authorised the very same Hyunil Sohn, to represent PUBG India in relation to Battlegrounds Mobile India,” Mishra said.

Mishra questioned that if PUBG and BGMI are different, why did Krafton India, “the so-called” publisher of BGMI, authorise Hyunil Sohn of PUBG India Pvt. Ltd to represent the company? “Is Hyunil Sohn, a representative of PUBG or BGMI or both? The answer is in reality, he represents the Chinese company Tencent in India,” Mishra claimed in a communication sent to Gadgets 360.

On the basis of the deductions on the alleged “elaborate charade perpetrated by Chinese company Tencent”, the NGO has called for “a ban on BGMI/ PUBG app." We've reached out to Krafton to respond to the allegations, and will update this space when we hear back.

The development follows nearly two months after the government banned 54 apps that have links to China and pose a threat to the country's security. The apps that were banned include Garena Free Fire, Tencent's Xriver, and NetEase's Onmyoji Arena. India has blocked nearly 300 apps in the country since border tensions erupted with China in May 2020.