BGMI unban: Is this an opportunity for Garena to bring back Free Fire?
Will Garena be able to bring back Free Fire by replicating what Krafton did to make BGMI's return possible?
In July 2022, the entire Indian gaming community was shocked when they heard the news of BGMI being removed from the Indian Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The game was banned under Section 69A of the IT Act, citing data privacy concerns. But, thanks to Krafton, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) has now made its comeback after abiding by all the rules and regulations of the country. Although the game will continue to remain under the Indian government's scanner, Krafton definitely deserves appreciation for the kind of effort put in by the company to bring back BGMI.
Now, there was one more battle royale titled Free Fire that was banned in February 2022 on similar grounds of data privacy. It was revealed that the game's servers were communicating with servers located in China. Free Fire was the direct competitor to BGMI with the kind of player base it held during that time. The game was popular among the masses and offered engaging content to the players. Garena, the publisher of the game, also launched Free Fire Max in September 2021, which offered better graphics compared to its prior version.
It's been over a year, and Garena hasn't even issued a single statement regarding the game's comeback. India, despite being one of the biggest markets for Garena, has been ignored for a long period of time. The official tournaments of the game have been completely shut down, and the players are entirely dependent on third-party competitions. Free Fire Max, which is still available in India, has been the only hope for professional Free Fire eSports players to continue with the game.
Now, the only question that arises is whether Garena is even trying to bring Free Fire back to India or not. The return of BGMI has surely opened all the possibilities for other publishers to bring their respective titles back by acknowledging the data privacy concerns of the Indian government. Krafton has set an example that it's important to eradicate the communication gap with the concerned authorities and find a way to resolve the issues. The Indian Free Fire players are currently stuck in the middle of nowhere and are waiting for an official statement from Garena. India has contributed a lot to Garena when it comes to the player base and revenue. Now, it becomes the duty of the publisher to at least clarify what steps have been taken to bring back Free Fire in the country.