Indian teams have started playing the Korean version of the 'banned PUBG Mobile' and several orgs like Villager Esports have started to organize scrims, as we had reported on 5 December 2020. An esports enthusiast has raised questions over this.
The whole gaming community is aware of the ongoing ban on PUBG Mobile imposed by the Indian Government. The decision was made along with 117 other Chinese Apps that were suspected to be involved in the security breach. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ensured that the game was removed from the PlayStore. The developers are trying their level best to convince MIET regarding the safety of the game, the government seems uninterested.
Recently Adeeb Sayeed, an esports enthusiast, was spotted on LinkedIn stating about the content creators and other pro players playing the Korean version of PUBG Mobile. He is not on the side of players who prefer to play the game even after the ban by the government. According to his post, it is illegal to play a different version of the game and this will create more problems for the developers. Moreover, this will also hamper the growth of the Indian esports scene as a whole.
He wrote, "The game being banned is an opportunity for other games to grow, which has been lackluster due to the fact that PUBG Mobile has continued to be monetized. It takes away from players and publishers that chance to explore and find a new game and audience, this is healthy as esports is not PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile is not the only esports."
It is quite common to see various roasters and teams playing the tournaments hosted in the KR version of PUBG Mobile and they feel that it is safe. This prevents the publishers of the game to involve themselves in monetizing these matches. Hence, players are deprived of their deserving payments.
Siddhant Joshi, the Manager of TSM Entity responded by saying,
Before I try to discuss everything else in this writeup, could you please explain to me this 'I find that players and esports organization's are under the impression that the PUBG Mobile KR version of the game is legal' Can you explicitly show me anything that says the PUBG mobile KR version is ILLEGAL in India. Not that I support using this app but could you redirect me to a official statement that says it is illegal? Not being on the playstore/appstore isn't a valid reason by the way. 'Esports orgs that are now picking up Pubg teams would instead be investing in a game that is not banned' Orgs like Fnatic, TSM, vitality would've never entered India at a scale they have now if pubgm did not exist. Atleast not for a good few years. If you think these big brands will just pick up something else and try to 'discover' new titles, you are mistaken.
Siddhant Joshi
After analyzing various social media channels, Gamzo found that the community has mixed reaction on incident. Some believe that professional organizations should refrain from organizing PUBG Mobile events, while others would like to see it happening the way it is.
"I can firmly say that the current scenario of PUBG Mobile in India has put the entire esports industry at risk. PUBG Mobile is currently banned in India, and yet is being monetized by the professional players in India, who are backed by some of the biggest esports organizations. This can, directly and indirectly, hinder the growth of esports in the long term."
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