It seems like no Indian teams will be participating in the PUBG Mobile Pro League (PMPL) South Asia season two. Tencent has prohibited all Indian teams from playing in the league, according to a report by AFK Gaming.
PUBG Mobile was banned in India on Sept. 2. India’s Ministry of Electronics and Informational Technology alleged that Tencent was engaged in “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner” to servers outside of the country.
The PMPL South Asia has been dominated by Indian teams and all 24 squads in the ensuing season were already confirmed before the ban. As many as 17 of the 24 total teams were based in India. Twelve of these squads were directly invited from the previous season, while five made it through the PUBG Mobile Club Open (PMCO) India.
The report claims these teams were informed of this recent decision in a conference call with the director of PUBG Mobile global esports at Tencent Games, James Yang. Furthermore, teams will also reportedly not be allowed to travel to another country to play in the tournament.
The PMPL South Asia was supposed to begin this month but has been postponed due to complications following the game’s ban in India. Dot Esports has confirmed from a source with knowledge of the situation that additional teams from the PMCO Pakistan and South Asia received emails confirming their qualification for the PMPL South Asia today. Tencent will likely announce the teams in the league after they confirm their participation.
India was PUBG Mobile’s biggest region in terms of a player base, according to a report by Sensor Tower. The game has been downloaded by over 185.5 million accounts in the country. Following the ban, PUBG Corp. announced that it was taking over publishing responsibilities in the country from Tencent. The company also said it’s working with the Indian government to bring the game back, but it’s unclear if this will happen.
