Tencent’s inroads into India threatened by calls to ban popular game PUBG

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is popular in India, where some 30 million people use the mobile version of the game. Considering the country’s 400 million smartphone users, the potential is huge for this multiplayer battle royale mobile game, which is published by Chinese tech titan Tencent.

Photo credit: PUBG A screenshot of the PUBG game.

But before the Shenzhen-based company can tap into India’s gaming market, it needs to convince the Indian government not to ban PUBG. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which oversees the country’s IT policy, is considering barring the game nationwide, senior scientist and ministry official VK Trivedi told the High Court of Punjab and Haryana.

The high court had asked the national government to decide on prohibiting the game. H.C. Arora, a senior lawyer, sought the ban, citing the dangers of getting addicted to PUBG and its adverse impact on the gamers’ mental and physical health.

A nationwide ban will be a major setback for Tencent, which is already grappling with a recent decision by the western Indian state of Gujarat to put a stop to the game. While the local government eventually lifted the ban, other states including Goa, Punjab and Haryana are proposing a similar move.

“PUBG has become a demon in every house,” Rohan Khaunte, Goa’s former minister for information technology, told reporters in February 2019. Tech in Asia got in touch with his successor, Jennifer A. Monserrate, but she declined to offer a comment despite repeated requests. A member of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra has also advocated forbidding the game in the Indian capital of Mumbai.

Killer game

Renewed calls for a ban in India came amid recent reports that a 25-year old man in Pune suffered a stroke while playing PUBG. He died in a hospital from an intracerebral hemorrhage, according to local media,  which cited a police statement.

“It seems the stroke occurred because the victim was overexcited while playing online game PUBG,” the police said.

The dangers of video-game addiction are not limited to health issues. Some users play the game even while they’re doing other tasks requiring their full attention, such as driving. Though there are no statistics on road accidents resulting from such reckless behavior, police in India have recognized that it’s a safety issue that needs to be addressed.

“India and Indonesia are two of the biggest gaming markets in the region,” says Gurugram-based Tarun Pathak, an associate director at research firm Counterpoint. “This is mostly because of the young population there.”

In India, budget smartphones that can be bought on loan and access to cheap internet is driving the boom in gaming, explains Pathak. Long commutes also mean that people have time to play games obsessively.

Analysts say PUBG’s wide acceptance and a strong and loyal community adds to the addictive nature of the game as people tend to like playing such games with friends.

Amid moves to ban the game in other countries such as Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan and Nepal, Tencent is taking action.

“The well-being of our players is our priority,” says Sarah Zhou, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Tencent, adding that the company introduced a system in April 2019 to “foster a balanced in-game environment.”

Huge potential