PUBG Banned in Pakistan – Temporarily Due to Suicide Cases Attribution

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday, July 1st, 2020, suspended the PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds (or PUBG for short) after several media reports of suicide cases attributed to the popular online multiplayer game.

Though the media had reported several cases of suicide in the past few days that brought the involvement of PUBG mobile game in the police investigation, PTA also received a number of complaints against the game from “different segments of society”.

The authority officially announced the temporary suspension of the game in a press release. It said that the complaints it received denounce the game as “addictive, wastage of time and poses a serious negative impact on the physical and psychological health of the children.”

It further added that several suicide cases attributed to the said online game have previously been reported by the media. Referring to the Lahore High Court’s directions, PTA is supposed to “look into the issue and decide the matter after hearing the complaints.”

According to the statement, PTA has also decided to solicit views of the public with reference to the game in the subject.

In recent reports, a 16-year old had committed suicide in Lahore, found hanging in a room. Police reportedly found a smartphone in the room that was running PUBG. According to reports, the parents told the police that they had told the boy to stop playing the said game.

Another 20-year old had reportedly committed suicide just three days ago. Parents, in this case too, had stopped the boy from playing the online game.

A Little History of PUBG and PUBG Mobile

Since March 2017, the paid version of the game was released on several platforms including Microsoft Windows and Xbox One console. A free version of the game, dubbed as PUBG Mobile, was released for smartphones in February 2018. It was the time when the game got popularity and within a couple of months, it got a larger user base than the original paid PUBG game. In March 2020, only the mobile version of the game had serged over $1.5 billion gross revenue.

Though the paid version was mostly played by the serious gammers on their computers or consoles. Not every other one could just jump on the bandwagon because there as a cost to play it. Hence minimum age limit was also a barrier to help kids stay out of it. But the Mobile version of the game, on the other hand, broke all the barriers especially due to being free of cost. There is no age limit and even a 5-year-old can actually play the game.

It’s worth noting here that the controversy around the PUBG Mobile is not new. Since the game was released and gathered huge popularity, it also attracted societies to see the damage it may cause to the younger kids, due to the battle royale genre of the game – violence and survival. Governments including India and Nepal have banned the PUBG Mobile game for the same reason. On the other hand, China didn’t even allow to release the PUBG Mobile game at first hand even when the Tencent Games, the Chinese company that holds equity in the original company that developed the game.

PUBG Ban in Pakistan

Well, PTA has not specifically mentioned “PUBG Mobile” in its suspension announcement. So it’s believed that both the PUBG and PUBG Mobile games will remain under suspension until further notified by the authority. However, if you play the paid version of the original “PUBG” game on your computer, then you can try and let us know in the comments below if it continues to play.

As far as PUBG Mobile is concerned, it has reportedly been cut off from the internet in Pakistan. You just can not play PUBG Mobile in the country right now. Let alone playing on the VPN, it’s already disconnected in Pakistan.

Share your thoughts and experience in the comments below. If you want to share your thoughts with PTA, in favour or against the game, they are expecting your opinion to finalize the decision whether to completely ban the game or lift the temporary ban. You can contact them at consultation-pubg@pta.gov.pk. Do help them in making a good decision.