Is PUBG to Chinese an app? The answer is yes and no | Image Credit: Reuters / Twitter
Within an hour of its announcement, PUBG had received more than 500 search results on Google. And one of the most searched related queries seemed to be about who owned PUBG.
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- Last update: September 2, 2020 8:42 PM IST
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The inevitable has happened. After TikTok, PUBG was finally in India along with 117 other Chinese apps.
The central government on Wednesday banned 118 Chinese mobile apps, including the popular game PUBG. The apps have been banned by the Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology because they “engage in activities that harm the sovereignty and integrity of India, the defense of India, state security and public order.”
The ban was expected to provoke a sea of reactions and questions from fans of “Chicken Dinner” in India, many of whom were comforting themselves on Google for more information on the application.
Within an hour of its announcement, PUBG had received more than 500 search results on Google. And one of the most searched related queries seemed to be about who owned PUBG. Searches for terms like ‘owner of PUBG’ and related queries like ‘Who owned PUBG’ and ‘Country owning PUBG’ also increased.
Many on Twitter also wondered if PUBG even qualified as a Chinese app.
But why are so many people searching for who owns PUBG?
The answer lies in its complex origin story.
A battle royale game that promises the winner a highly coveted chicken dinner, The PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG was developed by a man named Brendan Greene, who hails from Ireland. Greene created the desktop version of PUBG which was developed by a South Korean gaming company called Bluehole.
In 2017, China reportedly came close to banning the game, claiming it was too violent and bloody and went against the country’s cultural values. In fact, the government offered PUBG lovers a state-approved alternative to the game, Force for Peace.
This is where the Chinese company Tencent steps in.
Tencent Games, which was part of Chinese conglomerate Tencent Holdings, offered to develop a mobile version of the game, PUBG Mobile, after changing the format a bit. Shortly after the India-China showdown, the Indians also Googled to see how much of PUBG Tencent actually owns, in an attempt to understand exactly how Chinese the game is. For those wondering, Tencent has a 10% stake in Bluehole.
Tencent had released a preview version of the game for testing on gamers and the BBC reports that 70 million people had already tried it. Although PUBG Mobile was a success in China, Tencent did not get government approval.
Consequently, PUBG Mobile was banned in China because the government believed that it could have an adverse impact on young people and even distract people from focusing on their careers.
In India, however, people welcomed the game with open arms. Pretty soon, that seemed to be all people were talking about! In 2018, a survey by Quartz showed that 62% of respondents out of 1,000+ people said they were hooked on the game. The survey also showed that the main reason Indians loved PUBG was that it was better than other games available, while some respondents admitted that they decided to give the game a try because everyone was talking about it.
But is PUBG a Chinese app?
The answer is both, yes and no. Although initially developed by a South Korean company, the Chinese company Tencent Games co-developed a mobile version of the game. Both Bluehole and Tencent share the profits from the sale of the game under a prerequisite license agreement.
Tencent is also the second largest shareholder in South Korea’s Bluehole.
It looks like PUBG players would only have to do with Call of Duty for now.
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