A 25-year-old man reportedly suffered a brain stroke while in the middle of playing a PUBG match. After being immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, he was diagnosed with intracerebral haemorrhage, and subsequently passed away yesterday, January 18. The man was identified as Harshal Memane, a resident of Shindewadi in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune.

A statement from a local police station quoted Memane’s post mortem report to state, “It seems the stroke occurred because the victim was over-excited while playing online game PUBG. The post mortem report has stated intracerebral bleeding with brain tissue necrosis as the cause of death.”

This would not be the first severe fatality that has occurred as a direct or indirect effect of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, more commonly known as PUBG. Ever since PUBG Mobile was introduced, the game has garnered a massive following as it does not require specialised gaming equipment, and can be played on any smartphone and a data connection. As a result, PUBG has seen a craze around itself, but not everything has remained casual.

Memane’s death serves as the latest reminder of the downsides of a game that is over-addictive in nature. In order to address these issues amidst rising advisory against the game, developers have put into effect certain restrictive factors to curb over-addiction, including an age lock, as well as time restriction.

(With inputs from PTI)