Chinese Streaming Services Ban PUBG Esports And Streaming


A recent leak has claimed that PUBG esports “may be over in China” as streaming services remove the game from their platforms following government pressure.

The Chinese Government and gaming have always had a tense relationship. Recent rulings saw restrictions on how long teens could game across any given week. The ruling meant minors under 18 years old could only play video games between 8-9PM on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and bank holidays.

However, China’s restrictions on gaming have also extended to streaming. The ruling could effectively see PUBG esports come to an end.

Credit: PUBG Corporation

PUBG(one)

PlayerIGN (via TheGamer) claimed that PUBG had been removed from Chinese streaming platforms. Chinese streaming sites egame.qq, DouYu and Huya have all gone dark on PUBG streams. A similar comparison would be its removal from Twitch and YouTube in the UK. On the matter PlayerIGN stated:

Today’s changes is said to come from self-censorship, not the government. Following a Tencent meeting with regulators early this month.

Credit: Twitter

PlayerIGN explained that the changes won’t just affect the platforms, however. The change will have huge ramifications for streamers, esports teams, and third party companies. Even those that abide by the three-hours a week limit, will not be able to use that time to watch PUBG streamers. For esports teams in particular, this removal has essentially eradicated any team’s primary source of income.

The relationship between the Chinese government and games has always been tense. The Government has previously banned games such as PUBG, Fortnite and H1Z1 back in 2019. Apparently they aren’t fans of battle royale.

Considering the government’s strict rulings it seems unlikely that we will see any relaxing of these rules. Hopefully, streamers and content creators will be able to find some other avenues or games to stream. However, at this point it seems as though many PUBG related players are going to suffer at the hands of the recent ban.

Do you think you’d be able to manage without being able to watc PUBG? Let us know over on our social channels!

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Feature Image Credit: PUBG Corporation