China could ban Battlegrounds amidst claims that the game ‘deviates from the values of socialism’

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds could find itself banned from China amid claims that the game is too violent and ‘deviates from the values of socialism’.

These claims come from China’s Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, who claim the game is too violent, too bloody and indeed, deviates from the values of socialism. It’s a major blow to the game’s fortunes, with the game currently available to download only via VPN as it waits for official approval for distribution.

After the proclamation, approval could now become a much more difficult process.

This news comes from Bloomberg, who have translated a statement. Bloomberg also spoke to Benjamin Wu, an analyst at Shanghai consultancy Pacific Epoch. “This basically spells the death sentence for PUBG in China,” Benjamin Wu, an analyst at Shanghai-based consultancy Pacific Epoch, told Bloomberg. “PUBG’s main problem is that the underlying ideology clashes with what’s preached in China.”

According to figures from SteamSpy, which obviously can have substantial variance, China is currently the biggest audience for the game in the world, at a time with Korea, the US and the rest of the world are starting to see a plateau of players, and even a drop in the US’s case.

Just your weekly reminder on how Asia is driving PUBG to the new heights, even as US players are dropping out pic.twitter.com/MNcc0meVBB

— Steam Spy (@Steam_Spy) October 30, 2017

At the moment nothing is concrete, but this could be troubling news for developers Bluehole, and the growing battle royale genre.