India Bans PUBG Mobile, 118 more Chinese Apps On Radar

No one in India is unaware of the increasing tensions on the Indo-China border at Ladakh. Where China is encouraging the LAC dispute, India is hitting China’s economy strategically.

It was in June when India first banned around 59 Chinese apps, followed by 47 more in July. Once again when China tried to invade the Indian territory from the Himalayan border, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has announced a further ban on 118 Chinese mobile apps on September 2, including the most popular ‘PUBG’.

Indian Prime Minister Modi has always strived to make the country independent in almost every sector. And, this step toward boycotting Chinese apps is serving a dual purpose, one of teaching China a lesson for frequent invasions on LAC, second, to encourage local businesses and startups to come up with ideas and products. This announcement of banning 118 Chinese apps came just after his monthly radio program ‘Mann Ki Baat’ where he urged Indians to avoid using international video games.

Talking about the ban on PUBG, it was planned even before the Chinese disputes with India. PUBG addiction has always remained a major concern for parents and teachers. Therefore, the government always had an eye to ban such addictive games. However, it is noteworthy that PUBG would only be banned on mobiles. That means, people can still access it on consoles and PCs. So, what sort of ban is it?

If we dwell upon the initial PUBG, it was developed by an Irish game developer. Further, this game was developed for consoles and PCs by Bluehole, a South Korean firm. It has nothing to do with China. Both PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite are on India’s list of banned apps. Because, these are associated with Tencent Games, a Chinese firm.

To replace popular Chinese video games, the ministry is working to find a lucrative alternative. A few days back, Okie Venture also launched its Okie Gaming that will support around 30 video games. The launch is due in October, and we all can hope something interesting comes our way.

Many experts believe that it would be a make-believe for Indians to build such impressive games like PUBG in the coming future. Still, it is not impossible. With proper funding and to the technology geeks and local game developers, we can give the world our very own “desi” PUBG.