While there is no official statement from the IT ministry yet, the BGMI game has been confirmed to be removed from both Google Play store and Apple App store.
The Indian government has banned Krafton's Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). Alphabet Inc's Google and Apple have taken down the Krafton game on July 28, 2022, citing orders from the Indian government. This development comes a year after the country banned popular game PUBG.
Government has issued a ban on the popular battle royale game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) from South Korean game maker Krafton. The app has been removed by both Apple and Google app stores in India. While the BGMI app is no longer listed on Apple App Store and Google Play Store, the government so far has not made any statement on the banning of the BGMI app.
BGMI Ban In India
Both the ministry of home affairs as well as the ministry of electronics information technology have not officially said anything about the ban on the BGMI app.
Recently, a news from the media that a 16-year-old boy reportedly killed his mother over PUBG. The minor was addicted to the Krafton game. He was enraged after his mother scolded him and asked him to stop playing the game. Later, he shot his mother with his father's licensed gun on June 04, 2022.
What did Krafton say about the Ban
Google spokesperson confirmed that the app has been delisted after orders from the government. "On receipt of the order, following the established process, we have notified the affected developer and have blocked access to the app that remained available on the Play Store in India," said Google in a statement from Google.
What did Krafton say about the Ban
Krafton on its part said that it is clarifying the ban with the government. "We are clarifying how BGMI was removed from Google Play store and the App store and will let you know once we get specific information," reads Krafton's statement.
BGMI's removal comes almost two years after the ban on PUBG. The popular Chinese game was banned along with 100-plus other apps in September 2020. PUBG was banned for its affiliation with Chinese publisher Tencent Games. These apps, as per the government, were engaged in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the country also posing serious threat to Security of the State and defense of India.
The government said that these apps can carry out espionage and surveillance activities via camera/mic, accessing fine location (GPS) and do malicious network activity similar to previously blocked apps.
The ban on PUBG was a severe blow for Krafton as India was one of the biggest markets for the game maker. There were various PUBG tournaments organised in India. Post the ban on PUBG, Krafton cut its ties with Tencent Games.
The company announced that China's Tencent Games would no longer be authorised to distribute the PUBG MOBILE franchise in India. In July 2021, Krafton launched BGMI with tagline 'India ka Battle Grounds'. Earlier this month, the game hit 100 million registrations mark in India on Google Play Store.
Till now, the Government of India has banned more than 270 apps, suspecting the stealing of Indian users' data and sharing it with Chinese entities.
Many of these apps came back to India with rebranded and new identities while their competitor apps tried to sweep in and filled the void left by others.Just like the PUBG and BGMI, New State for Indian gamers, Garena had also launched the Garena Free Fire Max after the ban of Garena Free Fire.
BGMI ban: Battlegrounds Mobile India still works, but only on installed devices
BGMI ban in India: You can’t download an APK file for Android devices from the official BGMI website anymore either.This means that if you already have BGMI installed on a phone or tablet, it will continue to function without any issues for now.
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