The Bombay High Court has directed the Central Government to review the online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). The report does not specify which specific version or all versions of the game are under review. PUBG is available for PC, the Xbox One and the PS4 whereas PUBG Mobile caters to smartphones. The developers of PUBG Mobile recently launched PUBG Mobile Lite specifically for smartphones with entry-level hardware.
According to the report by the Times of India, “A bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Nitin Jamdar heard a PIL by a student, Ahad Nizam (11), through his mother, Mariam, to ban the game in schools. His advocate, Tanveer Nizam, argued that the game promotes violence and aggression. He said players use expletives. Prodded by the court, Nizam mentioned one of the expletives. “Are they using those?’’ asked the surprised CJ. “The world of internet is a world of fantasies,’’ he added and reminisced of how earlier children’s fantasies involved a fairytale world of princes and princesses, of chasing demons and living happily ever after. “There was no violence,’’ the CJ added”.
The report goes on to say that the PIL sought a direction to the state education department to ban the game in schools. To begin with, why is the game allowed in schools? It is easy to put admin locks on school PCs so no one can install the software. As far as mobiles are concerned, shouldn’t mobile phones be banned in schools?
There have been attempts to ban PUBG Mobile in the past as well but the game has managed to stay afloat. You can read more about previous bans here.