KOLKATA: Despite the ban on PUBG Mobile in India, fans were desperately hoping that it might eventually make a comeback. Those hopes were sadly dashed when Tencent Games, the publisher, announced its decision to shut down all services and access for users in India on 30 October.

“To comply with the interim order of the ministry of electronics and information technology dated 2 September 2020, Tencent Games will terminate all service and access for users in India to PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik and PUBG MOBILE Lite (together, “PUBG Mobile”) on 30 October 2020. The rights to publish PUBG MOBILE in India will be returned to the owner of the PUBG intellectual property,” the company said in a statement posted on its official Facebook page.

Back in September, the Indian government had banned PUBG Mobile, along with 117 other Chinese apps, citing security concerns. India was one of the largest markets for PUBG Mobile and the game had generated close to $28 million since July 2019 through in-app purchases alone, a report from Sensor Tower stated.

“Protecting user data has always been a top priority and we have always complied with applicable data protection laws and regulations in India. All users’ gameplay information is processed in a transparent manner as disclosed in our privacy policy,” the statement added.