After India and China's border clash escalated causing the death of one Indian Soldier, looks like the Indian government has finally decided to carry out the big hit - PUBG Mobile, the most popular video game in India, has been banned. In this article, we would discuss the ban and the reasons behind it, along with speculations about the game's future.

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Finally, the biggest game in India has been banned

1 - Why is PUBG Mobile Banned?

While the whole thing can be explained as "national security", it is actually a little bit more complicated than that. Below are the three main reasons for PUBG Mobile's ban.

PUBG Mobile in India is a huge source of revenue for a Chinese company

The money made by Tencent in India would be funneled back to China - the ban works like a trade embargo of sorts, preventing Chinese goods (in this case PUBG Mobile) to reach India and make money. We can see the US doing the same thing with let's say TikTok for example - this would cost a lot of money for the Chinese.

Pubg Mobile Banned
The list of 118 banned applications - some of them are also battle royales like PUBG Mobile

The Chinese Government controls Tencent and PUBG Mobile

According to Chinese law, China's privately-owned companies must comply with government requests, and it is just too easy to get the data from those millions of Indian players from PUBG Mobile. This is actually not a small thing, as data can be used in a lot of subtle ways that you would not expect. Remember the Pokemon GO debacle in which people play the game in a secret military base and reveal national secrets? This is the same thing.

The Chinese Government, through Tencent and PUBG Mobile, could influence Indian youths

Again, there are a lot of ways to do this, and in case of war, any influence China has on Indian youths and public opinion would be critical.

2 - Is there any chance for the game to be unbanned in the future?

A lot of people have probably agreed to this Privacy Policy, which states that people from China would have access to their data

It is possible for the game to be unbanned later if the situation escalates - however, there is a chance that the Indian government would just ban it indefinitely until a surefire solution could be achieved (like an Indian company buying PUBG Mobile India, for example). PUBG Mobile fans in India would not be able to play the game in the next few months, for sure.

Interested in more of our articles related to PUBG Mobile? We are working on a solution for people in India to play the game using a VPN. Stay tuned.