After TikTok, PUBG Mobile bans underage players

According to a report, popular online battle royale game PUBG Mobile has imposed a ban on players who are below the age of 13. It further goes on to say that the decision to put a "digital lock" on underage players comes directly from China's Tencent, developers of PUBG Mobile, and only affects Chinese players. 

The report comes only a week after another Chinese app TikTok started restricting underage users from using the video-sharing app.

PUBG Mobile's restrictions on players below the age of 13 will support Chinese government's move to curb the gaming addiction among teenagers.

Tencent is using facial recognition technology in addition to player ID checks so that it can ascertain the player's age and identities of those playing Honour of Kings in China. Tencent is extending the same technology to PUBG Mobile.

After PUBG addiction claimed a teenager's life in India, psychiatrists have something to say

Apart from the age restriction, PUBG Mobile limits how long can youngsters play the game. Some other restrictions include streaming the game content and prohibiting violence, gambling, pornography, national politics and any other "damaging behaviour."

Currently, PUBG Mobile has over 200 million devices and 30 million daily active players.

Of late, PUBG has engulfed in so much controversy amid voices calling for a ban on the game gets louder. A few weeks ago, the Government of Gujarat issued a directive to restrict students from playing PUBG in schools.

PUBG Ban Row: High Court wants to hear what Modi government has to say about PIL against PUBG

The controversy around PUBG reached its peak after 11-year filed public interest litigation (PIL) through his mother in Maharashtra, asking to ban the game. The PIL was filed after PM Modi's famous "Ye PUBG wala hai kya?" remark in response to a parent's question about her child spending too much time playing online games during 'Pariksha Pe Charcha 2.0' had gone viral. Bombay High Court is now seeking government's response on the PIL.

Meanwhile, cases of PUBG addiction are not limited to China. In fact, PUBG's addiction has become a huge concern for parents and experts in India after an 18-year-old Mumbai teen committed suicide because his parents refused to buy him a new mobile phone to play PUBG.