Teen Allegedly Kills Friend Over 'PUBG' Video Game, Attacks Him With Sharp Object

A 13-year-old boy in India's Uttarakhand state allegedly killed his same-aged neighbor after the two had an argument over the video game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," or "PUBG," a week after the game returned to the country.

The teenager attacked the victim with a glass-like sharp object around 5 p.m. Thursday in the village of Ibahimpur near Roorkee, resulting in the neighbor sustaining fatal injuries, newspaper The Times of India reported, citing police.

The victim was rushed to the Civil Hospital in Roorkee, but he later succumbed to his injuries. His body was sent for postmortem, Roorkee circle officer Bahur Singh Chauhan said.

"While we have not received any complaint in the matter so far, we have launched an investigation into the murder,” Chauhan said.

"PUBG" is an online multiplayer game developed and published by Krafton, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole. The title is based on mods created by Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene — who is the game's director as well as its lead designer — and sees up to 100 players fight for survival in a large map until only one player or team remains.

The multiplatform game inspired by the 2000 film “Battle Royale,” which was the origin of the namesake video game genre, has sold over 70 million copies as of July 2020, making it the fifth highest selling video game of all time.

The incident comes a week after the game's rebranded mobile version, "Battlegrounds Mobile India," returned to the country following a ban in 2020 allegedly due to its links to China.

"PUBG" was involved in another killing that happened in April in the Indian state of Karnataka, where a teenager allegedly killed a 12-year-old boy after the latter was accused of cheating in the game to win.

Police arrested a 17-year-old boy in connection to the death. The teen reportedly had a fight with the victim after they met and played "PUBG" on the night prior to the incident.

The victim's body was covered with banana leaves and coconut fronds when it was found near a road in the southern Indian city of Mangalore on April 4.

The teen had told police that he was prompted to throw a stone at the victim after the 12-year-old allegedly pushed him first and threw a small stone at him. When the victim collapsed, the teen then allegedly dragged his body to the side of the road and dumped it there.