PUBG in India: Gamers stare at huge losses if govt goes ahead with ban

Online gamers in India are a harried lot these days as they stare at huge losses if the government decides to ban the Popular Battle Royale Game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG). Notably, there are several reports doing rounds about the government's plan to ban the popular gaming app.

Sensor Tower data suggests PUBG accounts for 24 per cent of all game downloads and has earned in-app revenue worth $28 million since July 2019.

PUBG has drawn the highest response among other online gaming apps in India, with the online tournament prize money growing 180 per cent year-on-year in 2019, Rushindra Sinha, co-founder of Global Esports, told Mint. The coronavirus lockdown also proved as a boon for the gaming app as it saw a spike in downloads. PUBG added 25 million new subscribers since the lockdown was imposed in the country in March.

Also read: Will PUBG Mobile be banned? All you need to know

To soothe fears around data privacy, PUBG Mobile recently introduced a new change in the privacy policy for Indian users. The company assured players in India their data is not being sent overseas or sold off to third parties.

The app, in its new privacy policy, stated that Indian users' data will be stored on domestic servers. The government in June banned 59 Chinese apps including video-sharing app TikTok, Vigo, Helo, among others. Recently, 47 more apps were banned.

However, there are reports that the government is considering a ban on another 275 apps. Unfortunately, for PUBG Mobile fans, the online multiplayer game is also believed to be part of this list of 275 apps. The online game is one of the most popular mobile games to have come out in the last few years. It is particularly popular in India where the game has been downloaded 175 million times.

Also Read: India's crackdown on Chinese apps irks China, vows to protect firms' interests