Addictive video games of a violent nature are now on the censorship chopping block. Bluehole Studios (and the subsidiary PUBG Corporation) had their bread and butter, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, completely banned from being played in any capacity in Nepal from April 11th, 2019 onward.
The ban comes down from the Nepalese government. Reporters out of Kathmandu, Nepal, published a story on Reuters confirming that the game is banned from being played or accessed in the region by the Nepal Telecommunications Authority, also known as the NTA.
NTA deputy director, Sandip Adhikari, confirmed the ban to Reuters, saying…
“We have ordered the ban on PUBG because it is addictive to children and teenagers,”
According to The Splintering, this widespread ban affects the mobile release of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the PC release, and the console release. Network service providers have reportedly been forced to prohibit users within the region from connecting to the PUBG servers.
This comes shortly after a soft-ban of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in India, where various districts have banned citizens from accessing or playing the game, or otherwise they face jail time. These aren’t hollow threats, either. 16 people were reportedly arrested throughout March for playing the game in certain Indian regions where the title is banned, according to Android Authority.
Censorship against video games has been taking on all kinds of new faces in recent times. Fan-service has come under attack by Sony’s new censorship policies, while visual novel and anime indie games have been banned or removed from Steam for inconsistent reasons, and now violent video games that are “too addictive” are gaining attention from government authorities as well.
Not too long ago Prince Harry condemned Fortnite saying that the game “should not be allowed”. With PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds getting banned in certain regions, one must wonder how long it will take before authorities begin to target Epic Games and their Battle Royale title?
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is still available to play outside of India and Nepal for PC, Xbox One, PS4, and mobile devices..
(Thanks for the news tip UnmaskedBlake)
(Main image courtesy of Razor)
