The parent company of PUBG, Krafton Inc. announced on Saturday that they will be partnering with Microsoft to host their multiplatform products on Microsoft’s Azure cloud. This deal could potentially bring back PUBG mobile in India.
Krafton Inc. is a South Korean video game holding company which owns the PUBG Corporation. The company is going to use Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to host its multi-platform products like Player Unknown Battlegrounds for PC and consoles, and its smartphone counterpart PUBG mobile.
The deal appears to be centered around providing users with better data privacy and security. “With privacy and data security being a top priority for KRAFTON, the company will be working with Microsoft to ensure personal data protection through Azure,” said Krafton, in the press release.
Microsoft’s Azure is a cloud computing service similar to Amazon’s AWS. The service allows individuals and companies run, host and deploy their products on Microsoft’s data centers. It also allows game developers and publishers to deploy and grow their games on a global scale.
“Azure powers some of the biggest multiplayer games, featuring state-of-the-art security and the most comprehensive set of compliance offerings of any cloud service provider,” said Krafton. The company further added, “The collaboration will ensure that privacy rights are respected and relevant software will be in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.”
On Sep 2, PUBG mobile was banned in India along with over 100 other Chinese apps over user-data privacy and national security concerns. Soon, PUBG Corporation ended its partnership with the Chinese publisher Tencent for PUBG mobile in India. However, the app was taken down from the app stores after the ban. The users who had it downloaded could still enjoy the game, until the access was terminated in October.
PUBG still remains one of the most popular battle-royale games along with titles such as Fortnite, Apex Legends and the most recent Call of Duty: Warzone. Its mobile version, PUBG mobile was a huge hit in India, especially among India’s youth.
The ban on the game left Indian players deeply disappointed. PUBG Corporation’s efforts so far to bring back PUBG in India has not been fruitful. But the lack of involvement of the Chinese company, Tencent, and the switch to Microsoft’s Azure cloud services with a strong focus on privacy and security might redeem PUBG mobile in India, potentially leading to the ban being lifted on the game.
