Not long ago, one of the most famous games with the largest player base in the Vietnamese gaming market appeared on the Sports News 24/7 (the program after the 7 PM news). That name is none other than Free Fire, affectionately called “Temple Fire” or “Free Fire” by the Vietnamese gaming community.
Notably, this was not the only time Free Fire appeared on television. Previously, one of the “major event” of the Free Fire gaming community took place when their game was also featured on the program after the 7 PM news. Specifically, it was the Garena Free Fire friendly tournament gathering 8 teams of this game.
In both appearances, Free Fire was recognized as an eSports game with a large player base and professional eSports tournaments. This made the Free Fire gaming community excited, especially the younger players. When this event took place, many Free Fire players had shown off to their parents during dinner because they felt proud of the product they were playing. Free Fire is rated 12+ on Google Play and the App Store.
Of course, Free Fire is not the only name to appear on national television. Recently, a number of other names were mentioned by the broadcaster on the 7 PM news such as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, CS:GO, Identity V, and League of Legends. PUBG Mobile, although not directly aired, was also indirectly present in the “background” that the broadcaster set up to discuss gaming addiction and violent content in today’s online games.
Among these names, on mobile platforms, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, although displayed on screen, is only for ages 18+ and above, but in both of the most popular app stores today for Android and iOS, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is also rated 12+, and even 9+ on the App Store. PUBG Mobile is the same, rated 12+ on Google Play but 17+ on the App Store.
As for Identity V, since it is not officially released in Vietnam, on foreign App Stores, this survival game is rated 12+. It can be seen that among the names mentioned by the broadcaster, most of them have age ratings that are not too high on the app stores. This discrepancy arises from either Google and Apple or from the publishers wanting it this way?
Without discussing the nature of these games being violent or not, but just looking at the issue of age ratings on Google Play and the App Store, it can be seen that Free Fire, like the aforementioned names, is also a 12+ game. However, why is one game celebrated as a model of Vietnamese eSports, while the others are considered violent, horror, and addictive? If we examine the content of each product in detail, perhaps everyone has already come to their own answer.