Tencent Gains Exclusive PUBG Operating Rights In China, Vows To Demolish Cheaters
Fans of the shooter genre in China will soon be playing PlayerUnknown's Battlefield under the watchful eye of Tencent. Tencent has announced that it has landed exclusive rights to PUBG in China, its home market. Tencent will run the servers for the game and has promised to deal with cheaters. Cheating in the game is a major problem; especially so in China.
"PUBG has sold more than 20 million copies since we released the game in March 2017, and we expect our strategic partnership with Tencent to open up new horizons in the Chinese market," PUBG Corp chief executive officer CH Kim said. "We will do our best to present a great game to the Chinese users in close cooperation with the company."
Tencent has also promised that it is reworking the game specifically for the Chinese audience. Presumably this means changes to meet tough government regulations within the country and PUBG does already have a simplified Chinese language option already. Rumors were swirling not too long ago that the Chinese government wanted to ban the game because it was violent, but those rumors never came true.
"PUBG is currently the most popular survival shooter game and is enjoyed by users all over the world," Tencent senior vice president Steven Ma said. "Tencent will localize and operate the game by catering to the preferences of Chinese gamers. We will also offer a different, fun experience on PC."
Tencent just announced that it will be the exclusive operator of PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS in China after partnering with Bluehole.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) November 22, 2017
Will be official China server + emphasis on banning cheaters + making the game work around regulations. pic.twitter.com/q02njDxiLw
There are still some mysteries surrounding this announcement. One is if players who already own the game via Steam will have to buy PUBG again once the game moves over to the Tencent WeGame platform.
PUBG has been booming in recent months with player counts growing wildly even though it is only currently available on the PC. The Xbox One launch date is scheduled December 12. NVIDIA also recently offered a glimpse at some screen shots from the new desert map that is in the works.
