Garena Free Fire users over the world were taken aback when their favorite battle royale game vanished from the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store in India, also many predicted the game got banned due to the copyright infringement issue with PUBG.
While the rationale for this was unclear at first, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has imposed a ban on 54 additional applications as its assault on “Chinese” apps expands. Surprisingly, Garena’s parent firm, Sea Limited, is not a Chinese corporation.
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What is the reason behind Free Fire getting banned from Play Stores?
Following the removal of the battle royale game from the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store, there was widespread speculation that the government had imposed a new ban on a number of applications with a Chinese connection.
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However, because Garena’s parent business, Sea Ltd, is registered and based in Singapore, there was some skepticism, particularly given the absence of official communication. Forest Li, the proprietor of Sea Ltd, was born in China and later came to Singapore.
The first wave of app and company bans associated with China began in 2020 when PUBG Mobile and over 100 other applications were blacklisted in India. With the addition of new applications to the list, the total number of prohibited apps now stands at 324, but the oddest thing is the inclusion of Garena Free Fire, which is not an app developed by a Chinese company.
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Free Fire is no longer accessible on the Google Play Store, although Free Fire Max is still available in India. Garena Free Fire and Garena Free Fire Max, on the other hand, have been removed from Apple’s App Store. MeitY’s list, too, does not include the term Garena Free Fire Max.
Garena’s situation has deteriorated further as a result of the new claims of impersonation. Krafton, which owns the intellectual property rights to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and similar games, has sued Garena, arguing that their Free Fire battle royale is a blatant imitation of its PUBG games.
The lawsuit connects features of Free Fire, such as vehicles, sceneries, map titles, weapons, and skins, to those seen in a variety of PUBG-related games, including PUBG Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India, Game for Peace in China, and PUBG New State. It was also stated that Garena Free Fire has made a lot of money and gained popularity since it looks like PUBG Mobile.
There is no information on whether or not a court judgment was made in response to Krafton’s case, but the delisting of the applications might constitute self-imposed censorship by Google and Apple, given that the names of these two corporations are also mentioned in the lawsuit.
Krafton accused Google and Apple of promoting Garena Free Fire without checking its authenticity on their app stores.
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