Nepal government requested to justify PUBG ban as Supreme Court temporarily stays ban order

Nepal’s Supreme Court has issued an order to stay a ban that recently blocked players from accessing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

PUBG was banned in Nepal earlier this month after parents and school leaders complained about “the effect” the game was having on children, citing the battle royale game was making people “aggressive in real life”.

However, The Himalayan Times (via GI.biz) now reports Justice Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada has called for more information from the Nepalise government to justify its demand to ban the battle royale game. According to the report, the request contravenes Article 17 of the Constitution of Nepal, which guarantees freedom of expression.

“We received a number of complaints from parents, schools and school associations regarding the effect of the game on children,” Metropolitan Crime Division chief Dhiraj Pratap Singh told the Kathmandu Post at the time. “We also held discussions with psychiatrists before requesting the Kathmandu District Court for permission to ban the game.

“Parents and schools had complained that the game was affecting their children’s studies and making them more aggressive,” Singh added. “When we consulted with psychiatrists, they also said that the violence in the game can make people aggressive in real life.”

Iraq is the latest country to have banned people from playing not just PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, but also Fortnite, too. The Iraq parliament voted to ban the two battle royales “due to the negative effects caused by some electronic games on the health, culture, and security of Iraqi society, including societal and moral threats to children and youth”.

In other PlayerUnknown’s Battleground news, its creator, Brendan Greene, recently stepped down from the battle royale’s development team. In a tweet posted to his personal Twitter account last month, Greene – who’s Twitter profile now lists him as “director, Special Projects @ PUBG” – said he was moving away from active development on the hugely successful battle royale game and relocating to Amsterdam for his new venture. From what he says, his next project is unlikely to be another battle royale.

“The past five years of my life has been all about battle royale. From the early days working on a mod to getting the chance to create my vision for a battle royale title, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” Greene said. “It’s been an incredible journey and our game has reached heights I never thought possible. Seeing the game grow into what it is today has been a dream come true and I can’t thank our fans and the incredible team at PUBG Corporation enough.”