Afghanistan bans PUBG, join India, China in gaming regulation:

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is getting banned in yet another country.

However, the game hasn't had a smooth ride this year. Starting from Pakistan to Afghanistan, the game faced complete ban in these countries.

REASONS:

Pakistan: The PUBG Mobile was struck with a ban in Pakistan in July this year. Imposing the ban, Pakistan Telecommunication Authorities (PTA) stated that they had received numerous complaints against the game. The PTA also stated that it was addictive and negatively influenced children's physical and psychological health in the country. The PTA, howver, a month later, overturned the decision after a meeting with Proxima Beta Pte Ltd (PB) representatives.

India: The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on September 2 this year imposed complete ban on 118 Chinese applications, including PUBG Mobile. The Indian government banned these apps citing threat to national security of the country. These apps were engaged in activities that are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India.

However, the PUBG Corporation later announced that it was preparing for the release of the Indian version of the game called PUBG Mobile India. It also announced that it would be setting up a subsidiary in the country. The company further had stated that it would be investing $100 million in the country.

Afghanistan: After Pakistan and India, Afghanistan was the latest country to ban PUBG Mobile. On The Afghanistan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ATRA) on Thursday suspended the game in the country temporarily. Omar Mansoor Ansari, acting ATRA head, had said, "Our team submitted a report on the issue to ATRA Board after carrying out a comprehensive analysis, and then a decision was taken to block this game temporarily considering its social and security impact.

Before taking the strong step, the ATRA had consulted various ministries, psychologists, parents, school headmasters, cybersecurity experts, and more before handing out this suspension.

Afghanistan joins growing list of countries that banned PUBG

This isn't the first country to ban PUBG. Afghanistan joins Nepal, Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, and India. Jordan said PUBG had "negative effects" on players. Iraq said PUBG was harmful to society as a whole. The country even called PUBG a "potential national security threat."

India banned PUBG Mobile, claiming that the game stole users' data.

In China, PUBG was replaced with a lookalike game called Game for peace The game, produced by Tencent, replaced all of the violence and blood that the country deemed inappropriate in PUBG. Instead of being killed, eliminated enemies politely wave goodbye and drop loot. According to Reuters, Game for Peace is being packaged as an homage to the Chinese air force and “pays tribute to the blue sky warriors that guard [Chinese] airspace.”

PUBG MOBILE