It all started when Adeeb Sayeed, former Esports Manager at InsideSport, taking into account all esports bodies who play and host PUBG Mobile KR Version tournaments, published a warning note on LinkedIn. The post says that the PUBG Mobile KR Version is against the laws to play and promote in India. Within a few hours, a debate in the Indian gaming community started shaping the controversy – “PUBG Mobile KR Version Legal in India or not?”.

Siddant Joshi, TSM-Entity Esports Manager in India, stepped-in in the discussion, and asked the author to show him anything that says the PUBG Mobile KR version is ILLEGAL in India. In short, almost everyone wrote his opinion in the comment section of Sayeed’s post. Here’s the detailed information about the post:

Fair enough, right? If you understand the post in details, Sayeed’s opinion matters. There should be someone to raise his voice against the unfair cross-play functionality of PUBG Mobile KR Version. Cross-play functionality here means that users on PUBG Mobile KR Version can team-up and play with Global version players. And, to make you a little aware again, PUBG Mobile global version servers are banned by the government of India.

Karanveer Singh Arora from BGR India, in support of InsideSport, published a story saying that, “if an individual user is accessing the application in a private environment they will not be prosecuted but are still disobeying the imposed ban.” Fair enough, again, right?

InsideSport Monetizing & Promoting the Banned PUBG Mobile Lite: Hypocrisy?

To this point of the ‘PUBG Mobile KR version Legal or Not’ Controversy, the authors from InsideSport and BGR India rightly put their opinions. PUBG Mobile KR version legal in India or not, let the government be given rights to decide on this. Even if it is illegal, fair enough. The opinion of InsideSport makes some sense to this point of the discussion.

But, the problem lies in the other side of the story. The point is – If you are criticizing players and organizers for playing, monetizing, and promoting a banned game, why are you promoting and earning from another banned game? PUBG Mobile Lite is banned in India for violating the security laws of the country.

And, shockingly, the news outlet like InsideSport, who was seen raising voice against the PUBG Mobile KR Version legality, is promoting the PUBG Mobile Lite Global Version Download Links on their website post, knowing that as an Indian news outlet, majority of their audience is from India region only.

The same issue was raised by Maxtern, one of the most renowned names in the Indian gaming scene. Here’s what he said in his tweet against the hypocrisy of InsideSport.

Dear @InsideSportIND,
Hypocrisy kee seema hoti hai?
On one side, their journalist complaining about how you can earn from a banned entity, another side, they are telling how to download PUBG Mobile Lite.
Most of their audience on this topic are from India so nice way of earning. pic.twitter.com/k2zxA8NQ3Q

— Maxtern (@RealMaxtern) December 23, 2020

Maxtern, on Sportskeeda, responded on the “PUBG Mobile Korean Version Legal or Not?” controversy. He quoted,

Until and unless the government bans the Korean version, none of us have the perfect answer to this question.

Isn’t this an example of hypocrisy? As a news outlet, MoroEsports respect the efforts of Sayeed in putting out this issue to public. There are hardly any questions raised on PUBG Mobile KR Version legality. The cross-play functionality is something where the government need to address the masses. It is a serious issue, as rightly pointed by Karanveer Singh in its article on BGR India.

But, if you are raising your voice against something unusual or illegal to play in India, and complaining about players monetizing a banned game, why are you running a dozen of Advertisements on an article promoting download links of PUBG Mobile Lite, a game that was banned in India for violating the rules of security.