Is PubG Really a Chinese App????????

PlayersUnknown battle grounds (PUBG), the most popular Chinese game got banned in India along with other 117 Chinese apps on 2nd September. But is it really a Chinese app????? Earlier on 29th June govt of India banned 59 Chinese apps including most famous tiktok, shareit and others.It was a huge shock for the gamers who took a sigh of relief when 59 apps were banned in the first phase of banning apps considering India-China border security issues.

Soon after the announcement,Social media was flooded with the memes of pubG ban and have been shared and retweeted numerous times.Apart from memes, search engines are stormed with the question of originality of PUBG game and if it is a Chinese game then why first wave of hitting games had shown doors to pubG??

First of all we need to know to which country this app originally belongs to:

Mastermind behind the idea:

The game was conceptualised and created by an Irish game developer Brenden Greene who went on to develop the game  along with pubg corporation which was basically a subsidiary concern of South Korean based ‘Bluehole’ developer company.However, this was only a desktop version of the game.It was first launched in 2017 and was an instant hit, capturing millions of gamers worldwide including India.

How china stepped in??

To enter the Chinese market, South Korean company partnered with Chinese company named tencent as many believe that if any foreign enterprise wants to launch any new technology in China then it has to join hands with their companies. So, this alliance brought a mobile version of pubg game and launched worldwide in March 2018.Although game was launched in China in February 2018 but it was only meant for testing and govt of China did not give permission to release any in-app purchases hence,company could not monetize it. Govt of China claimed through NRTA (National Radio and Television Administration) that this game has violent content which may adversely affect the minds of the youth of the nation and its addiction can distract the aspiring young generation from their careers.

After few negotiations,tencent company managed to launch a new game in may 2019 in China much identical to pubg under the name ‘force for peace’ which excludes violent content and includes social and patriotic themes , apparently, game got its approval from Chinese govt.

Chinese element in PUBG and how it is affected by this crackdown:

Both South Korean bluehole as well as tencent company share profits as decided in prerequisite agreement. However,tencent enterprise has only 11.5% shares in bluehole concern.As per the data released by Quartz India in December 2018 the game is more played in India than in China having more than 60% Indian players.Subsequently,due to this ban tencent lost $14 billion and market value of its shares fell 2%.

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/qz.com/india/1489469/tencents-pubg-is-driving-indian-gamers-crazy/amp/

Although tencent changed its privacy policy after first crackdown of apps on 29th June and stated that the data collected through pubG will be stored on local servers  with in the country only and will not be used by any third party.

Is it really a Chinese game:

While the pubG game is created by South Korean company but pubG Mobile is coded by a Chinese company.As far as the question of origin of the game is concerned, it will remain a Korean product but managed by a Chinese company which became a foremost reason behind the ban. Now it will be interesting to see if this game manages to comeback in Indian gaming market or not.

Sources:

Timesnownews,bbc news,quartz india,thequint