Bangladesh could be banning the mobile battle royale games, PUBG Mobile and Free Fire.
The South Asian country’s ministries of home and education are working together to recommend a ban on the two titles, according to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. The games are reportedly being banned to “safeguard” the mental health of young people.
Even though the ministry of education is working to ban the games, its minister Dipu Moni admitted it doesn’t have any statistics to back claims of the games’ potentially harmful effects on children.
“We don’t have any such analysis or statistics in hand, but there is a lot to do in that area,” Moni was quoted as saying by the Dhaka Tribune.
Tencent’s PUBG Mobile and Garena’s Free Fire are popular in the country. The reports of a ban come just a few days after Garena announced an exclusive server for Free Fire in Bangladesh, which will be available from June 8.
This isn’t the first time, PUBG Mobile would be banned in Bangladesh, however. In October 2019, the game was briefly banned for its “psychological impact” on youths. This ban was lifted in just a few hours, though.
Tencent’s immensely successful game PUBG Mobile has faced a lot of flak globally. The game has been banned in Jordan, Iraq, and Nepal because of its “negative impacts” on society. Afghanistan and Pakistan had also briefly banned the game last year for the same reasons.
