Battlegrounds Mobile India Maker Krafton Says Data Transfer Done Only ‘to Enable Game Features’

Battlegrounds Mobile India creator Krafton has released an official statement over recent data transfer concerns. The battle royale game was reported to be sending users’ personal data to servers in China, including a Tencent server. PUBG Mobile was given permission to revive back in India as Battlegrounds Mobile India after it promised to cut ties with Tencent and invest over $100 million (roughly Rs. 740 crores) in the country. This data transfer issue to China servers has reportedly been fixed after a small update.

Krafton says it is fully aware of the recent worries over data handling in regard to Battlegrounds Mobile India Early Access test. The company said its taking the concerns raised very seriously and has taken immediate, concrete actions to address this issue. Krafton could be talking about the automatic small update that reportedly led to removal of Chinese servers from data sharing. Krafton also says that users’ data is shared with third parties to enable specific features in the game.

“Similar to other global mobile games and apps, Battlegrounds Mobile India also uses third-party solutions to provide unique game features. In the process of using these solutions, some game data was shared to third parties. Battlegrounds Mobile India’s privacy policy fully discloses that the app may transfer some user data, with users’ consent to the privacy policy and choosing to migrate their accounts. No data has been shared in violation of the privacy policy,” the company said in an official statement.

“Thus, data shared to third parties are only to enable certain game features. In the meantime, Krafton will continue to closely monitor and protect any data being transferred to unexpected and restricted IP addresses prior to the official launch,” Krafton added.

In its privacy policy, Battlegrounds Mobile India says personal information will be stored and processed on servers located in India and Singapore, but it may transfer user data to other countries to operate the game service or to meet legal requirements. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to the government demanding a ban and has even asked Google to delist the app from Play store.