PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will officially make its way to China, thanks to a publishing partnership between the game’s developer Bluehole and the Chinese internet giant Tencent.
The game has been unofficially playable in China for some time through Steam, but the partnership would allow Bluehole to bring PUBG over in an official (and government approved) capacity, though it won’t be without some alterations.
According to Reuter’s translation of the Tencent statement, the eventual Chinese release of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will see its content adjusted to align with “socialist core values, Chinese traditional culture, and moral rules.” As Reuters points out, other games have made similar adjustments to their Chinese versions by adding red banners and government slogans into in-game levels.
The two companies had been discussing a potential publishing agreement as far back as September, according to Bluehole co-founder Chang Byung-gyu. At the time, Chang noted that Tencent could be an important partner for the Korean company, especially given the difficulty of releasing a game in China as a foreign developer.