PUBG gets govt's nod after 3 months of trial testing

After passing a three-month audit, South Korean gaming giant Krafton is said to have gotten full government approval in India to run its well-known battle royale game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), according to persons acquainted with the situation who spoke to Moneycontrol. One of the top-grossing games in the nation is expected to benefit from this action.

According to sources, the game will now be evaluated every quarter. Regarding this issue, Moneycontrol has contacted Krafton; we will update the report as soon as we hear back.

This action follows the return to the market of Free Fire, a rival battle royale game from the gaming division of Singapore tech giant Sea, which had been suspended for about one and a half years.

In May 2023, Krafton received permission from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to restart the exclusive India app BGMI for a three-month trial period. Following a government order, the game had been removed from Google Play and the Apple App Store for about ten months before the action.

The trial approval, according to Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on May 19, came after the game satisfied with requirements relating to server locations and data security, among others. "We will keep a close watch on other issues of User harm, addiction, etc. in the next 3 months before a final decision is taken," he said at the time.

Before their respective suspensions last year, BGMI and Free Fire were two of the most profitable Android applications in the nation. BGMI has once again topped the list of the top-grossing Android apps in India on the Google Play Store after making a comeback in May 2023. The app's annual income is estimated by several industry leaders to be close to $100 million.

'Free Fire India,' a Garena-only app that will be accessible for download starting on September 5, too seems to have borrowed a page from Krafton's strategy. Additionally, the corporation still provides the "Free Fire Max" more expensive alternative, which was not halted by Indian authorities.

For local cloud hosting and storage infrastructure for Free Fire India, Garena has teamed up with Yotta, a member of the Hiranandani Group and a MeitY-empaneled cloud service provider. According to the company, Yotta will oversee the personal information of Indian customers on regional servers and network connectivity services to support Garena's product offerings in India, particularly in esports.