PUBG Mobile, the mobile version of the popular battle royale game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, has been banned by the Indian government. The PUBG Mobile India ban comes at a time when the country has been banning a wide variety of Chinese smartphone apps, with PUBG Mobile being just one of over 100 apps that were banned in the latest wave. According to the Indian government, the PUBG Mobile ban is due to "cybersecurity concerns."
India started banning Chinese mobile apps due to tensions between the two countries. Things escalated significantly when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the Himalayas this past June, at which point the Indian government (and its citizens) started to crack down on Chinese-made products. For example, there are videos of Chinese products being destroyed, and India banned TikTok, another extremely popular app that has ties to China. While PUBG wasn't developed in China, developer PUBG Corporation has an active partnership with Chinese game publisher Tencent, who has largely handled the mobile version of the battle royale game.
PUBG Mobile is hugely popular in India, with over 40 million active users, and so this ban could have a devastating impact on the game. It remains to be seen exactly how long this ban will be in effect, but it's possible that PUBG Mobile will be permanently banned from India. However, fans in India may have seen this coming, as this isn't even the first time that a PUBG Mobile ban has been discussed in the country.
PUBG Mobile was originally on the chopping block for the first wave of bans for Chinese smartphone apps, but managed to come out unscathed. Prior to that, the Indian state of Gujarat had already banned PUBG Mobile, and even arrested 10 people for playing the game in public. Gujarat's reasoning for the ban wasn't due to cybersecurity concerns, but rather, concerns over the game's impact on young people.
PUBG Mobile is notorious in India for its addictive nature, to the point where one viral video showed an Indian groom ignoring his wife at their wedding just so he could play the game. So while the latest PUBG Mobile ban is due to "security concerns," the Indian government has had a tumultuous relationship with the game for years.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if any other games will step up to fill the massive void PUBG is leaving in India, or if some kind of deal can be reached for the game to be unbanned.
Source: TechCrunch