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Tencent Video Game Shuts Down PUBG Mobile In China

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PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (PUBG)  is one of the most popular and profitable video games in the world. However, it has faced a lot of backlash because of how addictive some people find it. The tech giants behind the Tencent video game have dropped the very popular mobile version of PUGB in China. This followed their failure to secure a license from the Chinese government to collect revenue from the game.

 

The company is now moving user’s attention towards a similar game with a different title. Heping Jingying or Elite Force for Peace has now been approved for monetisation by the Chinese Communist party. This was due to the game adaptation to more patriotic overtones. The game now resembles a tribute to a part of China’s national military, “the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.” It also has anti-terrorism themes.

 

 

The mobile version of PUGB first launched in March 2018. It soon became one of the world’s most popular games. It now has as many players as the popular equally addictive game, Fortnite. The game has about 70 million domestic players according to estimates from the Chinese company, China Renaissance. This kind of traffic will have allowed Tencent to generate annual revenues of about $1.48 billion from in-app purchases alone.

 

In the past years, China has become particularly hostile to video games that seem addictive or violent. A popular Chinese paper even described Tencent’s mobile game, Honor of Kings as “poison” that spreads “negative energy.”

 

Tencent’s new substitute, Heping Jingying, is a more patriotic and less violent PUBG. The characters do not bleed and can only be played by people aged 16 and above.

 

Heping Jingying

 

The rejection of PUBG mobile might also have some political undertones. Tencent licenses came from a South Korean company called Bluehole. There have been hostilities between Chinese authorities against South Korea goods. Beijing, in 2017, launched a boycott of South Korea’s products. This is because they agreed to install the American missile-defence system along with North Korea.

 

Tencent is making the transition seamless as they are allowing users to port over characters from the PUBG Mobile to Heping Jingying.

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