PAKISTANI police called for the wildly popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) game to be banned today, after a teenager confessed to killing four family members in a rage after bingeing for days playing online.

Ali Zain shot dead his mother, two sisters and a brother on January 18, and claimed under questioning that the game had driven him to violence, they added.

“This is not the first incident of its nature,” investigator Imran Kishwar told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore, adding that “so we have decided to recommend a ban”.

PUBG is an online multiplayer “battle royale” game, in which the winner is the last survivor.

Kishwar said Ali, 18, lived in complete isolation in his room and is addicted to the game.

Dawn newspaper quoted Lahore police as saying that Ali “fired at his family thinking that they will also come back to life, as happened in the game”.

PUBG, often likened to the blockbuster book and film series The Hunger Games, has become one of the most popular mobile games in the world.

Pakistan’s telecoms authorities have previously temporarily blocked access to the game after complaints about its violent content.

The game has been banned – briefly or permanently – in several other countries, including China and India. – AFP, January 31, 2022.