PUBG Mobile may be one of the unluckiest games in the market. It has been banned and unbanned many times in Pakistan, Jordan, Iraq... Yet, the Indian Government's ban on the game still makes headlines in recent weeks. Indian accounts for 24% of PUBG Mobile's download time, and it's not a good scenario to lose a quarter of the player base.
Chinese corporations are having a challenging time all around the world. Previously in July, the massive short-video sharing social network TikTok was banned in India alongside 58 other apps. PUBG Mobile somehow slipped through the crack. Yet, the ban still comes nearly two months later in September. PUBG Mobile was one of the 118 Chinese mobile applications got removed from the Indian market. The same thing is happening in the U.S as President Donald Trump made an executive order to address the threat of TikTok and WeChat.
Yet, things have not stopped to go South for the Chinese tech giant Tencent. PUBG Mobile may even get banned in China, the country of its origin. No matter how surreal it sounds, there is a good chance that it would happen.
The Chinese Government Never Approved PUBG Mobile
Tencent Games shook hands with BlueHole to develop PUBG Mobile after China banned PUBG PC due to excessive blood and gore. The mobile version Battle Royale game hit the shelf in February 2018. Yet, the Chinese Government has not approved the distribution of it in the country.
To make matters clear, we would like to explain the situation a little bit. In China, if you look to publish a game, you need to have a license approved by the Government. The problem is that the Chinese Government only approves 40 games a month, including mobile, consoles, and PC. Not to mention a hectic maze of legal issues, terms, and conditions.
When PUBG Mobile was released globally, the license for the China market was still under review for over a month. Then more than a year later, the result came saying that the Chinese Government did not approve it. Tencent Games was clever enough to bend the curve, re-creating its game to a less violent one. It's approved in 2019 as "PeaceKeeper Elite" or "Game for Peace". Therefore, it was not PUBG Mobile that got the approval but its clone instead.
PUBG Mobile May Be Getting A Ban In China Soon
From this point onward, we want to make it clear that we're referring to the Chinese clone of PUBG Mobile. Yes, it has a pretty good chance of getting a permanent ban from the Government of China. The world's largest country has been looking into mobile game developers. In just the last few months, thousands of unlicensed apps were removed from the local app stores.
Last week, the Chinese Government released a list of 14 mobile applications violating the country's policies. The list includes PeaceKeeper Elite (Chinese PUBG Mobile), Plants vs. Zombie 2. among other games. All 14 of them were accused of stealing personal information beyond the scope. The developers of these mobile apps must clarify their creations at their earliest convenience. Users are also advised to take careful steps to avoid any data leaks.
If Tencent Games fail to justify their actions in front of the Chinese Government, there's a good chance that PUBG Mobile will be banned from the country of its origin. That would not be a great scenario for the tech giant. China holds more than half of the game's revenue as well as download times.
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