According to Player IGN, who frequently shares leaks and updates regarding PUBG (Player's Unknown Battlegrounds), the PUBG PC eSports scene may soon be over in China.
PUBG, which is now known as PUBG Battlegrounds, is an online battle royale game developed and published by Krafton. Due to the success of the PC version of the game, mobile versions of the game were announced and they too received an overwhelming response from fans all over the world. Despite several countries banning the mobile version, PUBG PC is still available globally.
Krafton had announced PUBG Continental Series 5 which is streaming on China's online gaming platforms. However, recently many streaming sites in China have removed the game.
China has been in the limelight recently due to the restrictions it has imposed on the gambling industry. The Chinese government had put several regulations on gambling, minors could only play video games for three hours per week. The abrupt decision taken by the government had had negative effects for video game companies.
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According to the latest report from IGN Player/The Gamer, the battle royale game may be censored in China as many Chinese video streaming platforms like DouYu, and egame.qq had removed the game entirely from their websites. Although PUBG Continental Series 5, which is the final battle for PMGC 2021, is still ongoing, old videos are being deleted and redirected to an empty Valorant page, as noted in a report from Coming Soon.
The reason behind the removal of PUBG from the streaming sites could be due to the restrictions imposed by the Chinese government. The government previously banned PUBG Mobile because it believed the game promoted violence, prompting Tencent Games to release a less violent battle royale game, Game For Peace (now known as Peacekeeper Elite). The game is quite similar to the Indian version of the battle royale, Battlegrounds Mobile India.
The move may have stemmed from Tencent's self-censorship, following a meeting Tencent had with regulators earlier this month. Although the publishers have not released an official statement, Chinese PUBG teams such as NewHappy and Games Forever Young have been notified of this change.
The removal of PUBG PC will have a severe impact on the gaming market in China. If the change is implemented, streamers will no longer be able to broadcast their gameplay on streaming sites. PUBG's eSports storyline could also be significantly affected if such a move is made.
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