Gamers Left Reeling As India Pulls Plug On Tencent’s PUBG In China Spat

The ban is the latest move against Chinese companies in India amid a months-long standoff over a disputed border but the timing and the target were particularly tough for young people. They have been using the game to stay in touch with friends while schools and colleges are shut to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

PUBG’s interactive features allow gamers to communicate with one another using text and voice, and users say these make it a unique mobile game in a country where millions of gamers cannot afford expensive gaming consoles and broadband connections.

“The only thing that couldn’t be locked down by corona was PUBG,” said Veera Raghavan, a gamer hailing from the southern city of Chennai.

Tencent had launched a lighter version of the game, which consumes less mobile data and runs smoothly on cheaper phones, in a bid to woo even more Indian players who would potentially spend on the app in the future.