PUBG Mobile banned in some Indian cities, leading to arrests being made. The ban began on March 6 and has led police arresting several players this week. The PUBG Mobile ban was implemented in four cities within the state of Gujarat. The participating cities are Rajkot, Surat, Gir Somnath, and Bhavnagar.
The local authorities decided on banning PUBG Mobile as they were concerned the title was causing aggressive and violent behavior in the young people of Gujarat. The region is also currently in an exam period, and PUBG Mobile has been cited as a distraction. The ban comes under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the section applies to “disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant.” The police’s interpretation of this section as it applies to PUBG Mobile is thought to be extremely subjective. It is believed players are not just arrested for playing the game but will be prosecuted if they show violent behavior and cause physical harm or threat to life.
The police application of the ban has led to arrests occurring in the Gujarat city of Rajkot. Ten people have been arrested in two days. After arresting three men as a result of the ban, police inspector Rohit Raval stated: “This game is highly addictive[,] and the accused were so engrossed in playing that they could not even notice our team approaching them.”
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was most recently in the news for the departure of the titular PlayerUnknown from the game’s team. PlayerUnknown, real name Brendan Greene, created the game in 2017 and has worked as lead designer on the game since that time. Greene will now take charge of a new PUBG Special Projects division within PUBG Corp. The majority owner of PUBG Corp., Tencent has been making moves recently as well. The Chinese gaming giant recently decided to partner up with Intel to launch a game streaming service for mobile and PC.
PUBG itself announced earlier this month that the game would be remastering aspects of the game. The first PUBG map Erangel would be the initial feature in the game to receive the revamp treatment.
[via IBTimes, The Indian Express]
