PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG): What Beginners need to know here?

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) is an online multiplayer game that can be played on mobile phones, personal computers, and also gaming consoles like Xbox. It was originally developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean Video Game Company Blue hole. The game is based on previous mods that were created by Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene for other games, inspired by the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, and expanded into a standalone game under Greene's creative direction.

Later PUBG was developed by Tencent Gaming. Tencent took the game which Blue hole had made for the PC, changed the skins and maps a little, tweaked the mechanics to make it slower and more suitable for gameplay on the mobile platform. You have now got a new game called PUBG Mobile. Even PUBG Lite and PUBG Mobile Lite belong to Tencent Gaming. According to Statista, in July 2020, PUBG players on PC and console crossed 70 million player base marks. It was quite addictive and the most played game worldwide.

All about PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG): 

In a PUBG game, 100 players jump on to a battlefield chosen by them, without arms or weapons, and get on the task of collecting supplies and ammunition that would help them survive. The game comes with several maps and stages. It's violent, with players required to kill each other, while staying within the safe zone circle, to stay alive. The map keeps shrinking, which forces the player to relocate to a new safe zone, and a failure to do these results in death. The last person standing is declared the winner and is greeted with "chicken dinner". 

PUBG mobile launched in India:

PUBG Mobile is the English version of PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield which is developed by LightSpeed and Quantum Studio, an internal division of Tencent Games. The game was first released in China in February 2018. It was released worldwide the next month after a soft launch in Canada. With the boom in the Indian telecom sector, PUBG Mobile, within a small period was a success in India. Several tournaments are organized by Tencent to increase the reach of the game and the first PUBG tournaments in India; 'PUBG Mobile Campus Championship 2018' was well received by the players and had over 2 lakh registration for the same. Since then, the game was reaching heights, and the popularity of the game has been on the rise, in India. According to Times of India and NDTV, PUBG Mobile had around 50 million players in India in 2019. It also had over 10 million daily active players. This underlines the popularity of PUBG Mobile in India.

Ban on PUBG:

Although PUBG was the most downloaded game in the play store and it has touched heights of success worldwide for a period of time but this game has been banned in several counties for specific reasons. The countries where the game is banned include India, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Korea, Jordan, Nepal, Israel, and Iraq. India banned PUBG on 2nd September 2020 under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The Government of India said the PUBG Mobile Application was engaged in activities that are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity, defence, and security of the country. The prime reasons why countries banned PUBG were--the game is too addictive, it does not care about its users' health, does not warn about the ill effects of screen time, and propagates violence.

PUBG mobile comeback:

PUBG Corporation recently announced that its popular mobile game, PUBG Mobile is coming back to India with a local twist to it. The game now will be called PUBG Mobile India, and it will be separate from the global version, similar to the Korean and Chinese versions.

The changes made especially for the Indian market include a virtual simulation training ground setting, all characters will be fully clothed from the beginning of the game, and the blood will be green instead of red. The company will also place restrictions on game time to promote healthy gameplay habits for young players.

Apart from the in-game changes, PUBG Corporation has stated that it will set up an individual Indian subsidiary, thus helping it increase communication with players and provide them with localized services. At its Indian subsidiary, it is looking to hire over 100 employees, who will specialize in business, esports, and game development.

PUBG Corporation has also announced that the privacy and security of Indian player's data as its top priority. It will conduct regular audits and verifications on the storage systems holding Indian user's personally identifiable information to reinforce security.

Also read: PUBG Corp breaks ties with Chinese company Tencent, may be back in India soon

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