Potential Ban of PUBG in China, What Will Happen to One of 2017’s Most Popular Games? By Nicholai Venetucci December 8, 2017

Unexpected Popularity

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, most often referred to using the acronym PUBG, is

one of the hottest PC games of 2017. Having only just been released in March of 2017,

as of today it has sold over 20 million copies (Chalk). For a game like PUBG, obtaining

sales of over 20 million in less than 8 months is nothing short of astonishing. The

popularity of PUBG was for the most part, unforeseen. It was not a big name “triple A”

title, nor was it widely anticipated by any means. It would more closely be compared to

that of an indie game in terms of people’s knowledge of the title and its development

status.

Most, if not all of PUBG’s popularity

(and ultimately its success), has Twitch

to thank for it. The online live streaming

service mainly known for its live

streams of people playing video games

is probably the main contributor to

PUBG’s popularity. Popular live

streamers who average about 20,000

peak viewers on most days started streaming the game regularly (“Most watched Twitch

channels”).

The unintentional advertisement PUBG was able to obtain from Twitch was massive.

Popular streamers such as DrDisRespect, Lirik, and Summit1g started streaming

PUBG, and before long the game started gaining massive traction. For the past 180

days, PUBG has become the most streamed game on twitch with about 479,925 total

streamers, knocking League of Legends into second place at about 394,323 total

streamers (“Most Streamed Games on Twitch”).

About the Game PUBG is a third-person/first-person shooter game that is classified as a battle

royale-style game. It is not the first battle royale game, but it has definitely largely

contributed to the solidification of the “battle royale” genre. The formula for a battle

royale game is pretty simple, it involves a large number of player fighting to the death

and the last one standing wins. In PUBG, 100 players are in a plane that is about to fly

over an island. Each player gets to choose where they would like to jump out of the

plane, parachute down, and land. Once

on the ground, the goal is to scavenge for

goods needed in order to fight and be the

last one standing. The goods that can be

scavenged include weapons (such as

guns, grenades, and melee weapons),

medical supplies, clothing, armor, and

more. Often times players are forced to fight each other during the first moments of

landing. If the player survives past the first few minutes, they must collect the best gear

possible, avoid dying to other players, and try killing other players, all the while

constantly moving to maintain a position within the circle. The circle is a designated

area on the map that is randomly generated each game. Over time the circle gets

smaller and smaller, and if outside of the circle, the player’s health will drain until death.

So, players are forced to stay inside a continually shrinking area, which in turn, brings

players closer to one another to kill each other. The last player standing wins the round,

earning the most reward credits (which can be spent on in-game cosmetic items) and

earning a higher score on the overall ranking leaderboard.

PUBG was released as an early

access game, meaning that it was

sold to consumers as an unfinished

game, still continuously ongoing in

development, which basically

translates to lots of bugs and

glitches, and pretty much a clunky,

unrefined feel overall. Although, this

fact didn’t stop consumers from

purchasing the game. As far as they

could tell by watching their favorite

streamers, it was a playable game that was a lot of fun. As of today, PUBG is still in

early access and continues to gradually gain improvements and new content. PUBG is

also scheduled to be released on Xbox One “as a console launch exclusive through the

Xbox Game Preview program on December 12, 2017” (Jones). The “Xbox Game

Preview program” is basically Xbox’s way of saying it’s an early access game.

The Potential Ban in China In recent news, China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association have referred to

PUBG as too violent, stating that it “deviates from the values of socialism” (Chen). They

also continue by saying that the chance of PUBG getting an official license for China is

highly unlikely. The claims being made by the association have proven to be far from

made up, citing the official consultation they had discussing the matter with the State

Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT). The

SAPPRFT is the regulator in charge of licensing basically all content in China, notorious

for some of the television and video game bans they’ve made in the past. The Chinese

Copyright Association has also made a statement saying that PUBG goes against “the

Chinese nation’s traditional cultural behaviors and moral principles” (Huang), concluding

that PUBG would affect the physical and mental health of teenagers in a negative way.

The Chinese copyright association expressed that they do not want game companies

developing or distributing games such as PUBG, and discourage it from being streamed

on domestic live-streaming platforms. Because of these comments made by Chinese

regulators, PUBG is rumored to potentially not get licensed to officially be sold in China.

As of today, China makes up about “37% of PUBG’s owners and a mighty 44% of its

playerbase” (Strickland). Coming in second is the United States which occupies about

14% of PUBG owners and 11% of its player base. Over more than half of PUBG’s sale

revenues were obtained from Chinese consumers. If sales were to continue in a similar

fashion, a China ban would drastically affect its growing sales numbers, not to mention

its current player base. Although PUBG wouldn’t go out of business if the ban in China

was to become official, the thought of banning such a large scale audience from a video

game is a bit unusual. PUBG has just sold 5 million copies in the month of October,

which is its biggest month yet (Duwe).

What’s Really Going to Happen to PUBG? PUBG has not officially been released in China, but Chinese players have been able to

play the game through Steam. Steam is Valve Corporation’s PC gaming platform and it

is the most popular distribution channel in the world for PC games. Chinese players are

able to download and run games on Steam through a Virtual Private Network (VPN),

allowing them to play any game available in Steam’s library. Many of the games they

have access to are even already banned in China, such as Battlefield and Grand Theft

Auto. “Steam currently operates in a legal gray area in China” (Huang), so China would

not be able to just block PUBG alone. Considering it is played on a platform that they do

not control, China would ultimately have to ban Steam entirely if they really wanted to

deny PUBG. For Chinese players, it would be easier if PUBG were to be officially

licensed in China. Accessing the game through a VPN can oftentimes be unreliable and

an added hassle, but still, over 6 million chinese players and counting do it. Also, with

the release of PUBG on the Xbox One quickly approaching, the only way Chinese

players would be able to play it on the console, is if it became licensed to officially

release in China.

In the most recent of news, it has been announced that the Chinese tech giant Tencent

is trying to secure a publishing agreement with PUBG. Tencent is one of the leaders of

China’s gaming industry, owning big name titles such as League of Legends and Clash

of Clans. News has been released of Tencent contacting PUBG developers to

potentially purchase a stake in the company, a partnership that could very well mean

the official license of PUBG in China. Tencent claims that changes would have to be

made to game, ones that better align it with socialist core values. Although licensing

games in China is difficult for game developers and their partners, oftentimes it is worth

it, for “China is the world’s largest market for videogames, with industry revenue

expected to hit $27.5 billion this year” (Chen).

This magazine article was theoretically written for PC Gamer.

Works Cited Chalk, Andy. “Playerunknown's Battlegrounds Has Sold More than 20 Million

Copies.”Pcgamer, PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES, 7

Nov. 2017,

www.pcgamer.com/playerunknowns-battlegrounds-has-sold-more-than-20-millio

n-copies/#

Chen, Lulu Yilun. “World's Hottest PC Game Could Get Locked Out of

China.”Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 30 Oct. 2017,

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-30/world-s-hottest-pc-game-could-b

e-banned-in-china-due-to-violence

Duwe, Scott. “Report: PUBG Sold 5 Million Copies in October for Its Biggest Month

Yet.” Dot Esports, Dot Esports, 1 Dec. 2017,

dotesports.com/pubg/news/pubg-5-million-october-sales-biggest-month-19149

Huang, Zheping. “China Is Blocking the World’s Hottest Video Game Because It Lacks

‘Core Socialist Values.’” Quartz, Quartz, 30 Oct. 2017,

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Jones, Gary. “PUBG PS4 Release Date: What Does Xbox One and PC Battlegrounds

News Mean for Sony Console?” Express.co.uk, Express.co.uk, 1 Nov. 2017,

www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/873915/PUBG-PS4-release-date-new

s-Xbox-One-Battlegrounds-PC

“Most Streamed Games on Twitch over the Past 180 Days.” Most Streamed Games on

Twitch over the Past 180 Days - SullyGnome,

sullygnome.com/games/180/streamed

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Needleman, Sarah E. "PUBG is the Hottest Videogame of 2017--and it Isn't Finished

Yet; 'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds,' which has Sold 13 Million Copies since

March, is Available for PCs and Coming to Xbox One." Wall Street Journal

(Online), Oct 01, 2017, US Major Dailies; The Wall Street Journal,

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