The immensely popular gaming app PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds (PUBG) was banned by the government of India on Wednesday, among 118 Chinese mobile applications. The banned apps include PUBG MOBILE LITE, PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik, Ludo, WeChat Work and other editing and gaming platforms.
The online multiplayer game PUBG is a battle-royale style shooter game, in which players fight to stay alive. It has gained a massive following in India from players of all ages.
Two of PUBG's alternatives - Rules of Survival and Knives Out - developed by China-based NetEase games have also been banned by the government.
Here’s a list of games that are similar to PUBG, now that the app has been banned:
Fortnite puts players in an open-world environment to battle amongst other players or characters within the world itself. It includes both single player as well as co-operative modes, in which groups of friends can play. There is also a Fortnite Battle Royale version in which up to 100 players can join a game online to compete as part of teams or individually. The Battle Royale version was released in response to the worldwide popularity of PUBG, which was released in 2017.
Fortnite is developed by Epic Games, an american video game maker based in North Carolina. Tim Sweeney, who founded the company, is the majority shareholder. Tencent acquired a 40% stake in Epic Games in 2012.
The game that has drawn the closest comparisons to PUBG, Garena Free Fire is a survival shooter game. Much like PUBG, players enter a battlefield and the last player standing is the winner. It is developed by 111 Dots Studio and published by Garena, an online game developer based in Singapore. The publisher Garena is currently working on releasing an enhanced version of Free Fire which will be called Free Fire Max.
Similar to PUBG, players land on an island and must go looking for weapons and utility items. The last remaining survivor is declared the winner.
Drawing on the popular console video game series ‘Call of Duty’, the shooter video game 'Call of Duty : Mobile’ has amassed a huge following. The game can be played for free, though there are in-game currencies (credits and COD points) that can be purchased to level up your game with characters and weapon skins. It includes multiplayer modes as well as a battle royale mode that can feature up to 100 players. You can choose to play alone or in two or four-person squads. Reports suggest that Call of Duty: Mobile season 10 could be released this month. However, the game was developed by TiMi Studios, a subsidiary of Tencent Games, which also which partly owns PUBG.
A zombie survival shooter game - Last day on Earth - is set in a post apocalyptic world. Players in the game aim to kill zombies and be the last person surviving. It also allows players to construct houses, hunt animals and make weapons to survive. Despite its fledgling graphic quality, it is still popular among players as an out-of-the-box alternative to straightforward battle royale games.