New Report Refutes Man’s Reported Death by Playing PUBG Mobile

The popular mobile game has earned millions of new users but not everything is hunky dory for the company.

PUBG Mobile is popular but it is making the news for some wrong reasons as well.

(Photo: The Quint)

(Updated to include developments from other media reports)

A few days ago reports suggested that a man died because of his apparent addiction to the popular game PUBG Mobile. The reports said that a 20-year-old youth died after complaining about severe neck pain, caused by reportedly playing the mobile game constantly for over 45 days.

However, a Times of India article that came out on Monday, has said that the death of the youth wasn’t caused by the game. Instead, the report quoting a doctor says the 20-year-old man named Sagar Yadav died because of illness, which has nothing do with PUBG Mobile or any other game. It’s not clear if playing the game aggravated his illness.

The original news had been sourced from a local media outlet called thehansIndia and there’s not much being said about the man, who was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his physical condition. The reported deceased hailed from the Telangana region, and was said to have played PUBG Mobile for long hours.

Reports of people getting killed or facing addiction-like symptoms have become a frequent sight with PUBG Mobile in the country. This has forced the law enforcement agencies to take stringent actions like banning the game in few parts of the country.

Few weeks back, two people were killed while they playing the game on a railway track. Both the victims couldn’t hear the train coming their way, and got run over by the train which was moving at a fast pace.

There have also been reports of a person leaving his family owing to his addiction for the game, and other incidents borne out of their penchant for playing the game.

Clearly, strong efforts are needed to prevent such mishaps happening and it seems that the company is doing its bit by offering a time limit feature for the game, and asking people to turn off their session after every hours or so.

It’s not an official feature yet but many users of the game have reported seeing such messages while playing it.