After being banned for about a year and a half, India has finally reopened access for Garena to bring their popular game, Free Fire, to the country. Although this has definitely stirred up excitement in the community, they will have to wait a few more weeks for the publisher to release the official and updated edition of this game.
Previously, the game was listed among hundreds of popular apps that were banned in the country owing to a dispute with China over data security and customer privacy laws. This prohibition has been in effect since February 2022, and Garena has finally gotten its permission back, but there will be some new rules to follow.
Based on the latest reports, the Chinese publisher is required to run their service via a special server provided by a local company in India and provide several in-game limitations that only exist on the Indian client, such as a playtime limit, an age restriction, and a spending restriction. Given the high level of toxic behavior among the under-18-only gamers in India’s online gaming community, these limitations are deemed necessary.
To celebrate the re-release, the publisher collaborated with Indian cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni on a new character for the upcoming patch, which will be featured in a limited-time event in the country. Free Fire fans in India, however, will have to wait a few more weeks until the official release, as Garena has just postponed the release date to complete the localization of new content and features.
The reintroduction of Free Fire to India will undoubtedly spice up the mobile battle royale competition there, which was previously dominated by Battlegrounds Mobile (PUBGM India), while also reintroducing them to the global competitive map. The country has missed important events since 2022, including the Free Fire World Series Sentosa 2022, Bangkok 2022, and Bangkok 2023.
