India bans PUBG mobile, Rise of Kingdoms and AFK Arena!

Players in India will no longer be able to win chicken dinner on PUBG mobilethe game has been banned by the government. While the Indian community may be frustrated, this is also a big blow to the game. While it has been gradually losing popularity due to competition from other Battle Royalegames (Fortnite, Warzone, Apex Legends, etc.), India was one of its last big bastions until now. PUBG mobile had nearly 200 million downloads in India, but with this categorical decision, the numbers are unlikely to increase.

The reasons for the ban on PUBG mobile in India are to be found at the geopolitical level. For many months, relations between the two Asian giants have been atrocious. Tensions have been building up, both militarily and commercially. PUBG mobile, owned by the Chinese company Tencent , is one of the collateral victims of this warlike escalation.

A punitive decision

India and China are not (yet) at war. But tensions are mounting along the very large common border between the two countries (especially in the Himalayas). The two countries accuse each other of intrusions and denounce military manoeuvres and operations that challenge their national sovereignty.

While PUBG mobile is not remotely linked to these alleged military operations, the game is still developed by Tencent, a Chinese company. This is reason enough to ban PUBG in India by its government. The latter is not being picky and has banned more than 118 mobile applications! All developed by Chinese (obviously), the aim being to clearly hurt your neighbour by hitting him in the wallet.

Many mobile games ban in India including PUBG!

While the banning of PUBG mobile (and its Lite version) in India has attracted a lot of attention because of its popularity in the country (India has 21% of the players), other games are also on the blacklist. Among the most famous are :

• Game of Sultans (Mechanist Internet Technologies) ;
• Super Mecha Champions (NetEase Games);
• RULES OF SURVIVAL (NetEase Games) ;
• Art of Conquest : Dark Horizon (Lilith Games);
• Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade (Lilith Games) ;
• AFK Arena (Lilith Games) ;
• Soul Hunters (Lilith Games);
• Chess Rush (Tencent Games);
• Arena of Valor (Tencent Games).

Tencent and PUBG are therefore not the only ones impacted in India by this ban. Lilith Games or NetEase Games are also suffering the full force of government sanctions. It is now necessary to wait to evaluate the extent of the damage... If for French players the impact is non-existent, it is nevertheless a situation that leaves one wondering.