Garena Free Fire Set To Return In India Following BGMI Relaunch

A year and a half after the popular battle royale game Free Fire was banned in India, Singapore-based game developer Garena is launching an exclusive Indian version of the game.

Free Fire India will be available for download in the country from September 5.

“Free Fire India incorporates unique content and features to encourage a safe, healthy and fun gameplay experience,” Garena said in a statement.

While the game was earlier banned due to security concerns, Garena has collaborated with Yotta, a Hiranandani Group company, which will provide the local cloud hosting and storage infrastructure to Free Fire India.

“As a MeitY-empanelled service provider, Yotta will ensure best-in-class management of personal data of Indian users on local servers and network connectivity services to support Garena’s product offerings in India, including in esports,” Garena said.

Garena Free Fire was banned in India in February 2022, along with 53 other apps, by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

In terms of other localisation features, Free Fire India will have a verification system to enable parental supervision, gameplay limitations and ‘take a break’ reminders.

“India is home to very passionate communities of esports enthusiasts and we are excited to be able to support our fans from Bharat with the launch of Free Fire India. We look forward to providing an engaging and highly localised experience for Indian users. We believe our partnership with Yotta will ensure that our users can enjoy the highest quality gameplay experience and benefit from Yotta’s expertise in protecting and securing Indian user data,” Gang Ye, the cofounder of Garena, said.

The company is also launching a Free Fire India Esports Championships, he added.

Free Fire’s return to India comes on the heels of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) making a comeback in the country.

India’s gaming is expected to grow to $8.6 Bn by FY27, growing at a CAGR of 27%, as per a Lumikai report released last year.

Indians spent an average of 8.5 hours per week on mobile games in FY22. The time spent on top mid-core games such as BGMI was twice compared to the time spent on other top casual games.

Besides BGMI, Free Fire India will compete against made-in-India battle royale title Indus, being developed by Pune-based SuperGaming. Indus is said to have crossed 5 Mn pre-registrations on Google Play is slated for a closed beta release during the upcoming festive season.