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Report: India to ban PUBG Mobile as part of crackdown on Chinese apps

Region generates around $3 million in revenue for the game

Report: India to ban PUBG Mobile as part of crackdown on Chinese apps

Tencent's PUBG Mobile could find itself on the ban list in India as the country cracks down on Chinese apps.

As reported by Gadgets 360, the Indian government has a list of 275 apps from China that could be banned, which would follow the 100 bans it has already enforced. One game that is rumoured to be among the potential removals is PUBG Mobile.

While not confirmed, there is a possibility that the battle royale could be on the chopping block. If that is the case, it will not be a welcome decision by the floods of fans the Tencent title has in India – it is one of the most popular mobile titles in the country.

One could make the argument that it is not an entirely Chinese game given PUBG Corp's parent organisation – Bluepoint – is South Korean. However, Tencent is based in China and does serve as the publisher for the mobile version of the title.

It's war

PUBG Mobile may be popular in India, but should it be removed from the market the game would continue to thrive due to its popularity worldwide. Earlier this month, Tencent's title broke $3 billion in lifetime revenue, double what it had earned by December 2019.

Furthermore, more than half of revenue earned comes from China, with the US and Japan coming in at No.2 and No.3 with 14 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively. According to a tweet by senior Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad, India generates around $2 million to $3 million for PUBG Mobile each month.

On top of its impressive earnings, the game boasts over 600 million downloads as of March 2020. However, that number has since increased to 734 million with India being responsible for 175 million, or rather 24 per cent.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.