Indian gamers are relieved that PUBG Mobile isn’t one of India’s 59 banned Chinese apps
- Tencent’s PUBG Mobile is the top-grossing mobile game in India
- The country weighed banning the game last year along with TikTok, which was banned this time around
The fact that the hugely popular game from China’s Tencent was spared came as a relief to many gamers in India. Not all Tencent apps were so lucky. WeChat was among the dozens of apps banned by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. A slew of the company’s QQ-branded apps were also on the list, including the streaming app QQ Music.
The ban comes in the wake of a deadly clash along the China-India border in mid-June, leading for calls to boycott Chinese apps and products. The Indian government cited threats to the country’s sovereignty and security as a reason for the app bans.
The reasons for sparing PUBG Mobile are unclear. It’s not because it’s a game, as the popular mobile game Clash of Kings was on the list. Other popular apps that were banned include Alibaba’s UC Browser and ByteDance’s viral short video app TikTok.
(South China Morning Post is owned by Alibaba.)
Whatever the reason, PUBG Mobile players were quick to show their relief online. Players in India flooded Twitter with memes, turning the hashtag #PUBGban into a trending topic in the country.