In a sudden blanket ban, the Government of India has issued an order to ban 54 apps claiming that they pose a threat to security and privacy of Indians. Since the ban order reports have surfaced, the viral mobile battle royale game Free Fire has disappeared from Google Play Store and App Store in India, and Indian users have reportedly been unable to access the Free Fire Discord Server.
Gamers and several eSports organizers were taken aback when they learned that the game had been banned in the country; nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that that the studio behind Free Fire is based out of Singapore, therefore should not be counted in the list of banned apps. Users are rightly debating the cause of the game’s suspension. This ban came as a shock as the title has a massive player base in the country, and players have spent countless hours and a lot of money on in-game battle pass and cosmetics.
India’s ban on Free Fire is quite intriguing given that Sea Limited is based in Singapore (not China)!
Disclosure – I’m long $SE
— Puru Saxena (@saxena_puru) February 15, 2022
1GB Ram mobile user who claimed themselves a pro Gamer
After Free fire ban :-#FreeFire #FreeFireBanned pic.twitter.com/OyUCmceQAR— Pushkar Yadav (@ypushkar_) February 14, 2022
Shoutout to all the Indian $SE Free Fire players showing loyalty towards the game.
Since the ban of FF, the downloads of FFM has skyrocketed from #160 downloaded to #3 in just 2 days
Grossings went from #3 to #2 and just overtook PUBG’s place. pic.twitter.com/DjhtYFPDTe
— Daniel Kakai (@DanielKakai9) February 15, 2022
Twitter trolls soon descended to harp on about what a good decision the GOI has made.
The humble reactions of our parents after government announce ban on 54 Chinese apps including free fire ????????????#ChineseApps pic.twitter.com/5z6ersdcIK
— Lateef bhat (@BhatLat) February 15, 2022
Garena’s official Indian Free Fire Twitter has yet to make any comment or update on the situation. However, several spokespeople for eSports organizations and forums have spoken up about this new development.
Lokesh Suji, Director for The Esports Federation of India & Vice President of the Asian Esports Federation (AESF) when asked to comment to the government’s sudden ban, had said, “It has come as a bolt from the blue for the Indian eSports community, especially for the much popular Free Fire eSports athletes who have been competing at national and international platforms and connecting with their fans through the virtual setups. However, there is no need to be disappointed, we believe this will diversify the gaming industry as new players will be introduced and will encourage homegrown video gaming developers, allowing them to curate games based on Indian ethos & culture and showcase Indian capabilities when it comes to developing world-class video games.”
We fully support this & will fully support any such decisions taken by our government, when it comes to safeguarding national integrity & security@weareteamindia @narendramodi @ianuragthakur @IndiaSports #freefire #esports #ban #integrity #makeinindiahttps://t.co/KpHqYYTWqB
— Esports Federation of India (@esfindia) February 15, 2022
He further added that the industry fully supports the decision and stressed it will fully support any such decisions taken by the government when it comes to safeguarding national integrity & security. “The Indian eSports industry has been in the wherewithal situation in the past but that never stopped them from growing and never will as we are not dependent on one game.”
Vishwalok Nath, Director of the World Esports Cup and Esports Premier League (both tournaments were played with Free Fire) said, “We hope that Garena can work with the Government of India to address the concerns raised around Free Fire. We have seen this happen in the past where titles made their way back after fixing the compliance issues. The entire creator and eSports community around Free Fire is waiting for a positive and quick resolution to the move.”
Sagar Nair, the Co-Founder & CEO of Qlan, The Gamer’s Social Network commented, “The Free Fire community is one of the largest and fastest-growing eSports communities in India. The sudden banning of the game has surely blindsided a massive number of gamers. We’ve seen this happen before with the PUBG ban and if we are to learn from it, it seems like it may as well be a long-drawn battle to bring back the game. While the community handles this setback, gamers do have an alternative in the form of Free Fire Max which is still available for download. Unfortunately, it’s mostly a wait and watch game here till we learn more.”
Free Fire Max was not featured on the list of banned titles.
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