mumbai for very personal reasons mass communication student siddhartha did not crack up at the memes showing parents crying tears of joy after the government banned pubg the most downloaded video game in india just 10 days ago the game had made siddharth aka razor shave off a chunk of his bank account to buy a rs 53000 phone practising on the device he had hoped would speed up his ascent from an underdog esports player who earns pocket money from unofficial pubg tournaments to topnotch professional gamer who brings home enough to earn the approval of his typical indian parentsso for this 20yearold who spent 10 hours a day shouting instructions and cuss words into his microphone the move to ban the app cuts deep as well a razor i am shocked he saysthe government on wednesday banned 118 chineselinked mobile applications citing safety and security of indian cyberspace just as the earlier ban on videosharing app tiktok had many influencers in a fix the crackdown on pubg leaves a hole in the lives of hardcore gamers some of whom are said to earn up to rs 90000 a month from pubg tournaments pubg playerunknowns battlegrounds not only served as the goto virtual social glue to millions of teens and young millennials during the lockdown but also boasted an esports ecosystem in india teeming with international money and designations ranging from customs managers to analytics coachesesports firms are choosing to perceive the move that came three days after pm narendra modis broadcast urging the youth of the country to make games in india and make games based on indiaas a temporary setback and an opportunity for other games to be discovered this may seem like a loss to the esports community says yash pariani ceo indian gaming league an esports league that hosts gaming tournaments however in the interest of national security the country must take whatever precautions they deem necessary he adds pointing out influencers and players may now switch to other multiplayer mobile games to fill the void pariani says we may see the birth of a homegrown version the prophecy finds an echo in saksham keshri founder of gamestreaming platform rheo who is hopeful a decent number of madeinindia games and gaming companies will now riseperhaps the ban may even finally make india embrace pc games predicts anish prasad aka inferno manager of a pubg team called devils rage with many buying laptops and desktops for online school there is a chance many pc games will become popular says prasad adding at the moment the market for pc games isnt too big as someone who managed a tier 1 pubg team till january prasad has had a front row seat to pubg tournaments whose budgets ran up to rs 1 lakhhrishikesh deshpande 32 an acelevel crown player of pubg says he is able to exercise restraint but santa cruzs nathan john 17 is friends with addicts who would probably have fits among other withdrawal symptoms the