The PUBG Battle Royale will be blocked in Afghanistan (TikTok social network will also be banned). This statement was made by the Ministry of Telecommunications of the country. Recall that for the last year it has been headed by the Taliban terrorist group banned in Russia.
According to the received order, Internet service providers will have to block access to PUBG in Afghanistan for 90 days. Apparently, the power game is treated more loyally than TikTok. The latter must stop working in the country 30 days in advance.
The decision was made at a meeting of the Ministry of Telecommunications with representatives of the security service and a speaker from the Sharia Police Administration, the English—language news agency Khaama Press reports, covering events in Afghanistan.
The reasons for the ban are not reported in the primary sources. However, a number of media outlets that have taken up reprinting the news claim (without links) that the authorities accuse PUBG of cruelty and that it “leads young people astray from the righteous path.”
There is nothing surprising in the situation with the ban. The Taliban came to power just over a year ago. During this period, more than 23.4 million websites with “immoral content” were blocked in Afghanistan. The ban of some of the most popular applications was only a matter of time.
Moreover, this spring, the Ministry of Telecommunications has already demanded to block PUBG and TikTok. Apparently, for the entry into force of these wishes, it was necessary to involve representatives of the executive branch.
By the way, Afghanistan is not the first country in which PUBG has been banned. Previously, the game was temporarily banned in Pakistan (against the background of the suicide of a 16-year—old player) and has already been blocked twice in India (local authorities believe that the game is a threat to national security, because its owner is Tencent).
Be that as it may, none of the locks will significantly affect PUBG’s revenue. The mobile version of the game earns more than $100 million dollars a month. And most of this amount is expected to fall on China (73%) and the United States (7%).
Even India, where PUBG has a giant community, is not so significant for the brand. To understand: her monthly earnings in the region are significantly less than the box office that the game generates in Turkey (the title is also very popular here): $1.5 million versus $4.5 million (here we compare the revenue in India before the ban with the current revenue of the game in Turkey).