We previously took a look at countries where PUBG is banned, we have also discussed countries that avoided the ban through their own versions of PUBG. With the latest developments that Airtel might publish PUBG, an Indian version of the game, lets take a look at countries where the game got banned for a period of time but eventually got unbanned. We hope to include India in this list too if it happens.
List of countries that unbanned PUBG
Pakistan
India’s Neighbor has had its share of controversies with PUBG. Even before India had banned TikTok, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) decided to ban the game. The ban’s reason was announced that Besides violence and addiction, PUBG made people less productive.
After nearly a month of the game remaining banned in the nation. The PTA met with representatives from the PUBG team and after discussions, the issues with the app and were satisfied with the answers and cooperation shown. After a hearing the Islamabad High Court asked for the ban to be lifted but there were complications and the PTA cited the Protection of Electronic Crimes Act of 2016 in deciding to keep the game blocked.
Finally, on July 30, the PTA released a public statement saying that the ban on the game would be lifted. After one full moth of the game being banned, PUBG MOBILE, was open to continued engagement with the authorities and implementing comprehensive control mechanism measures according to the statement.
Nepal
In April 2019, the Nepal Telecommunications Authority decided to implement a ban on PUBG Mobile. Just like China and numerous other countries, the NTA cited concerns over the negative impact of the game on the youth. The government argued that the game was too addictive. Moreover, it also had concerns about the violence associated with the game.
However, it was only about a week later, that the apex court decided that the ban on PUBG Mobile was unnecessary, since the game was a harmless way for the kids to socialize and have fun with people of their age.
China
Though China was widely reported to have banned PUBG, it’s actually that the game wasn’t approved to begin with in the country — Chinese censors had stopped approving new video game releases, which meant Tencent couldn’t monetize the title, even though people were already playing the game without in-app purchases.
In fact, Tencent added a China-only age gate to PUBG Mobile just last month to appease those censors.
The Chinese version of PUBG mobile was overhauled in 2019 with the name being changed to “Game For Peace.” This is a remarkable achievement considering the fact that the violence and gore are an integral part of the game. There are not many distinctions in the in-game elements when compared to the global version.
