Tencent misled the Indian government about PUBG and BGMI, and should be banned: NGO

The games PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) are the same, and Tencent has deceived the Indian authorities, according to Prahar, a non-profit organisation. A prominent official of the NGO has sought for a ban on BGMI/PUBG, claiming that there is no such firm as Krafton India.

BGMI is an Indian version of PUBG Mobile that was released particularly for Indian gamers after the government banned the game in the nation. Krafton created and distributed the battle royale game.

According to 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, wrote Abhay Mishra, President of Prahar, in a letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) (developers of BGMI).

According to Mishra's letter, Krafton authorised Hyunil Sohn to represent the firm, the same individual who is authorised to represent PUBG India, implying that Sohn represents the Chinese corporation Tencent in India.

Mishra told, “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 questioned why Krafton India, "the so-called" publisher of BGMI, authorised Hyunil Sohn of PUBG India Pvt. Ltd to represent the firm if PUBG and BGMI are not the same. "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 alleged in an email to Gadgets 360.

The NGO has advocated for "a ban on BGMI/ PUBG app" based on its conclusions from the alleged "elaborate charade perpetrated by Chinese company Tencent." We've reached out to Krafton for comment on the charges, and we'll update this space as soon as we hear back.

This comes nearly two months after the government banned 54 applications with ties to China that pose a security risk to the country. Garena Free Fire, Tencent's Xriver, and NetEase's Onmyoji Arena are among the applications that have been blocked. Since border tensions with China flared in May 2020, India has blacklisted roughly 300 applications.