Battlegrounds Mobile Data Share Controversy: Krafton Admits And Clarifies
PUBG Mobile’s successor, Battlegrounds Mobile India, had its first controversy even before coming out of early access. The game was apparently sending data to servers located in China. It was also found that the servers were run by China Mobile Communications Corporation, a Chinese state-owned company.
The game also sent data to Tencent Proxima Beta servers. A hotfix update was later able to resolve the issue. However, the publisher of the game released a statement clarifying the controversy.
“Krafton is fully aware of the recent concerns over data handling in regards to BGMI Early Access test. 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 with third parties. Its 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.”
Krafton
They further added, “The 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 before the official launch.”
What Features?
However, the statement didn’t clarify what features required third-party access to user data. However, we can surmise what those are based on prior information. We can assume that account migration might be one of these features.
This feature requires data from your previous PUBG Mobile account to tranfer to the Battlegrounds account. Now, this might be the reason why the game shares data with the Tencent servers. Then there’s also the Tencent anti-cheat solution found by IGN sources in their original report.
Will there be consequences similar to PUBG Mobile
While many have called for a ban, the government has stated it won’t preemptively ban Battlegrounds Mobile India. This information comes through an RTI, which also mentions that Krafton has met with the Indian embassy in Seoul to discuss the game’s future.
But the question remains why the game was sending data to China Mobile Communications Corporation, a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Additionally, this is all after the PUBG Mobile controversy, when the game was also banned for similar reasons.
