Gamers stuck indoors during Wuhan coronavirus outbreak overwhelm China’s PUBG Mobile

Users struggled to log on to Game for Peace during Chinese New Year, so Tencent said it’s expanding server capacity

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Game for Peace is a battle royale game in which you’re tasked with eliminating all your enemies on an island until you’re the last man or the last team standing. (Picture: Tencent)

Published: 8:17pm, 27 Jan 2020Updated: 4:49pm, 16 Feb 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

In the midst of China’s biggest holiday season, many of the country’s residents are confining themselves to their homes thanks to an outbreak in Wuhan of a deadly new coronavirus. So to connect with friends and family, many people are turning to video games.

Too many, it turns out.

A sudden surge in players overwhelmed the servers of one of Tencent’s biggest games over the weekend. Some users struggled to log on to Game for Peace, China’s rebranded version of PUBG Mobile, while others had trouble joining matches.

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“Movies are canceled, plays are canceled, get-togethers are cancelled, hot springs are canceled. Now I just want to play a game, but it collapsed,” Weibo influencer Tiyuxiaoqiao wrote.

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Tencent soon responded to gamers' complaints online. In a Weibo post, the company said that it had fixed the problem and was working to expand server capacity.

“The enthusiasm of the special forces soldiers is a bit overwhelming, so a small problem occurred,” the Shenzhen-based company said. Tencent then offered players a number of in-game rewards, including “crazy rabbit pajamas,” to make up for the lapse in service.

A spike in traffic is to be expected during the Lunar New Year holiday, say industry watchers. This is especially true this year given that many public events, attractions and cinemas have been shut down because of the coronavirus.