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Tencent Brings PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds To China, Promises Changes To Better Reflect Chinese Values
Tecent and PUBG Corp., a corporation spun out of Battlegrounds publisher Bluehole to better control the direction of the game, have announced that Tencent will be exclusively bringing the game to China, and making changes to make the game a better fit for the market.
The announcement made today finally brings Battlegrounds to one of the biggest potential markets in the world, and is the culmination of months of rumored talks. Tencent are also the majority owner of Epic Games, who have seen success with their own Battlegrounds variant in their recently released Fortnite.
In the statement, Tencent also clarified that the game would not release in China completely identically to other versions. In a statement translated by Reuters, the mega-corporation said "[Tencent] will make adjustment to content ... and make sure they accord with socialist core values, Chinese traditional culture and moral rules."
Tencent are likely stressing this as China's content regulators have outright said that the South Korean-published game is unlikely to ever come to China due to is violence and deviation from Chinese values.
Our Take
It remains to be seen what changes will be made, but if PUBG takes off in China, it will likely secure that game in the online multiplayer arena for a decade to come.
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