Tremors of PUBG Mobile ban shake up India's entire gaming ecosystem

Last Wednesday, the government banned 118 games and apps to “safeguard the interests of crores of Indian users”. The decision, it said, was a “targeted move to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace”. The ban follows on the heels of an earlier ban that blocked 59 apps, including TikTok.

The Indian gaming community is hit because PUBG (pronounced “pub-jee”) is on the list. Justin Shriram Keeling, a partner at Lumikai, a fund focussed on gaming and interactive media, says, “India is the world’s biggest PUBG Mobile market, with 24 per cent of global users. I highly doubt that’s going