PUBG Mobile’s India version will be toned down with green blood effects, playing time limits, and more

PUBG Mobile is coming back to India soon, according to a press release from News Wire Korea.

The game was banned on Sept. 2 by India’s ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) for data security concerns. The ministry alleged that the game was stealing users’ data and transmitting it to servers outside of India.

Following this, PUBG Corp. announced that it’d be taking over all publishing responsibilities from Tencent in the country. And today, the Instagram page for PUBG Mobile India posted that the game is “coming [back] soon.”

This comes after PUBG Corporation’s parent company, Krafton, announced a global partnership with Microsoft Azure last week to ensure “personal data protection.” The press release adds that PUBG Corp. will be managing all information more securely in India and will make the security of personal information a “top priority.”

But the game won’t be the same as it was before. PUBG Mobile India will be a separate game and will be toned down to “reflect the needs and preferences of Indian users.”

PUBG Mobile India will be set in a virtual training ground with character costumes automatically installed. In the global version of PUBG, the character initially starts by wearing only undergarments with costumes being procured later. This will no longer be the case with PUBG Mobile India.

The biggest change to the game is that the blood effect will be green in color. There will also be a playing time limit function to ensure “healthy use by teenagers.” PUBG Corp. said these changes have been made to “suit the locality.”

It seems PUBG Corp. is taking no chances in India. Even though the game was banned for data security reasons, PUBG Mobile has previously faced a lot of scrutiny for its alleged “addictive and violent nature.” It was also briefly banned in the Indian state of Gujarat. Police in the state even arrested 10 students for playing the game in 2019.