12 arrested for selling cheats for China’s version of PUBG Mobile

Twelve people were arrested for selling game cheats for Peacekeeper Elite, a popular Tencent game based on PUBG Mobile. Police in the eastern city of Kunshan in Jiangsu province said the group had been buying cheats from unspecified “overseas personnel” with bitcoin before selling them to players in China.

The hacks give players special abilities, like being able to see where other players are and auto-aiming. Police said the business was worth almost US$15 million. If found guilty, it’s not clear what punishment the suspects face, but it’s not the first case of its type. In 2018, two men were sentenced to at least one year in prison and were fined at least 20,000 yuan (US$2,833) for making hacks for Honor of Kings.

Peacekeeper Elite, also known as Game for Peace, is an almost identical copy of PUBG Mobile -- but sanitized to satisfy China’s strict censors, without any violence or gore. In March, Tencent raked in US$232 million between Peacekeeper Elite and PUBG Mobile combined.