PUBG grew from the 2017 battle royale PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and its mobile version became hugely popular across India and Pakistan, where wala is a common Hindi and Urdu suffix meaning the person associated with something. Calling someone the PUBG wala became everyday slang for a dedicated player, and short voice clips using the phrase spread through gaming chats, meme pages and WhatsApp groups. It stays popular as a quick, culturally specific joke that needs no explanation for players who grew up around the game's lobbies and local slang.