It Is Not PUBG That People Are Addicted To, It Is The Battle Royale Format

For the third time, the Indian government banned a bunch of apps that origins from China. This time around, PUBG and PUBG Lite were included in the list of banned apps and it looks like people are already moving on from them and adjusting without much complaint.

Out of all the banned apps, only two apps have been made into headlines, i.e, TikTok, and PUBG and the reason is very simple. TikTok was a short video phenomenon, whereas PUBG was a smartphone gaming phenomenon, giving a new way of gaming experience.

As soon as the 3rd wave of Chinese apps got banned in India, I had a discussion with people who used to play PUBG day and night. According to their words, they will make a switch to another game -- COD: Mobile, and they have no regret in doing so.

PUBG Popularized Battle Royale Style Smartphone Gaming In India

PUBG became a smartphone gaming phenomenon in just a few months with an average active user base of around 10 to 15 million per month. If we categorize games based on the core concept, PUBG belongs to Battle Royale style games.

Other popular titles in this category are Free Fire, Fortnite, and COD: Mobile. Do note that, there are 100s of apps that mimic PUBG. However, they are not as famous as PUBG due to the limited number of users. People who used to play PUBG will not move to other games that offer similar user experience and in the next few months, no one even cares about the great user-experience or the user-base offered on PUBG and the life goes on.

Banning PUBG could be great for the government. However, you will never be able to ban the concept/ideology that PUBG has popularized in the country. Though the game is officially banned on September 2, it was still working for me on September 3, where I tried to grab the last few chicken dinners to say goodbye to PUBG in its own style.