Fans demand Free Fire Indian version after the game is banned in the country

Garena Free Fire's ban was quite sudden and came as a complete shock to its Indian fans. The game was at the peak of its popularity in India before the ban. Although the Indian servers are still online and the MAX variant is still available in the Play Store, users are expecting more bad news in the future.

PUBG Mobile fans were in a similar situation back in 2020, when their favorite title was banned from India. The online campaign and demand for an Indian version prompted Krafton to introduce BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India). Free Fire fans in India have put forward a similar request after its ban.

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Garena Free Fire ban: The demand rises for the Indian version as the popular BR shooter gets blocked

Garena is yet to make a big statement (Image via Garena)

Garena acknowledged the situation but has been quiet since the ban's news broke out online. Since the ban, there hasn't been any activity on the game's Indian social media pages, but fans immediately became impatient.

Many social media users were seen asking for an India-specific Free Fire version. Here are some of the tweets:

As previously mentioned, Garena is yet to release an elaborate statement regarding the same. Players should note that the game's servers are still working in the country, and users can access the BR shooter on some networks. In addition to that, the MAX variant has not been banned due to its exclusion from the ban list.

On February 14, 2022, a list of 54 apps (the majority of them being Chinese) surfaced online that confirmed the ban of Garena's survival shooter in India. The Indian Ministry of Electronics and IT implied a prohibition on the app due to security concerns. These applications were "allegedly indulged in collecting and mishandling sensitive user data".

Apart from the ban in India, the game was surrounded by another controversy earlier this year. Krafton, the maker of PUBG: Battlegrounds (previously known as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds), sued Garena alongside Apple and Google regarding copyright violations. Readers can find more details about the same here.