The Indian government announced on 2nd September that in order to protect national security and public order, 118 Chinese apps were removed from the Playstore and Appstore, including Alipay, Taobao and Tencent’s popular mobile game “PUBG Mobile”.
The massive tech influencer Chinese company- Tencent, has reportedly lost around 34 Billion US Dollars in just 2 days.
An earlier report from Bloomberg suggests that this is the second-highest dip in Tencent valuation since the ban of WeChat by US President -Donald Trump, in which company lost around 66B US$.
This is second-time Indian govt. shortlisted the 118 Chinese apps for the ban , initially 59 Chinese mobile applications, including top social media platforms such as TikTok, WeChat and Helo got restricted.
The entire chain of sequence starts from the physical clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan valley area and Pangong Tso lake that lead India to take precautionary steps to counter the threat posed by these applications to the country’s “sovereignty and security”.
Indian Market for Tencent
Tencent has been always keen to invest in India – which is continuously emerging its Internet access penetration within the country. PUBG Mobile was released in March 2018 in India that became a sensation in the country as around 24% of the total installs are only from India. However, if we talk on the bases of revenue, the situation changed dramatically as Tencent does not even get 5% of the total revenue from India.
Current Status About PUBGM
On asking for a response regarding PUBG ban they said that “the company takes the protection of user privacy and data seriously. Our apps have always remained in compliance with data protection laws in India. We look forward to engaging with the Indian authorities to clarify our long-established policy and action in protecting user data and hope to ensure the continued availability of our apps in India.”
Ban on this game has affected the livelihood of gamers and streamers, there is a sudden drop of engagement on their live streams as compared to PUBG Mobile gameplay streams.
