One of the latest news buzzing the corners and concerning gamers in India is that if there is a possibility that the popular game PUBG might have been banned in India. In a recent move, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEIT) of the Indian Government announced that it had banned around 59 apps of Chinese origins in India, including TikTok. These include games, utility apps, and social media apps. However, the speculation and rumor that PUBG has been banned are false, and the game is very much alive and kicking in India. We here attempt to know why PUBG is not banned while other Chinese apps and games are.
Reasons For PUBG Not Being Banned in India
The list, including the different Chinese apps and games that have been banned by MEIT, does not include PUBG. While many gamers welcome the move, others wanted to know why this app has not been banned while the other Chinese apps and games are. To know why exactly the game was not banned, we have to go back a bit into history and have a look into the time when one of the most popular games of current times PUBG made an entry into China.
The game PUBG is owned by a company called Bluehole, which is not of Chinese origin. When people wanted to play the game of PUBG in China earlier, they had to use the clever tricks and cheap VPNs to do so. However, when the company tried to introduce the game into China formally, it was required to enter into a deal with the local and Chinese company Tencent. The Windows version of the game that was developed by PUBG Corporation was released in China henceforth. In a small period afterward, Tencent acquired a 1.5% equity stake in Bluehole by investing around INR 440 crores. Tencent also wished to increase the investment to around INR 3147 crores, resulting in an 11.5% stake in Bluehole. So as we can see, the game is not owned totally by the Chinese firm Tencent.
There were also other developments related to this scenario and business deal. The Chinese government remarked that the PUBG mobile game was quite violent, and Tencent got permission to create a clone of the PUBG game by the name “Game of Peace,” which also promoted certain Chinese traditional values.
The real point of the matter is that PUBG is not wholly-owned by any Chinese company, and there are no security or privacy concerns associated with it. The Indian government’s ministry has banned certain Chinese apps because of security and privacy reasons. PUBG does not fall in this classification due to its nature of origin, ownership, and other aspects. PUBG uses the BatlleEye software to ensure security and to maintain the anti-cheat nature of the platform. The game also claims it never misuses data and is transparent.
