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History is again repeating itself, as the popular battle royale game, Free Fire, has been banned in India. Over a year and a half ago, the government had banned 118 Chinese apps that included mobile games like PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite.
Garena's offering first went missing from the Apple App Store on 12 February and was briefly taken down from the Google Play Store. Now that the Indian government has banned it, gamers across the country are curious to know the country of origin.
Since the motivation behind the ban of mobile applications back in September 2020 was because of their Chinese roots, users are wondering if it is the same this time. No concrete reason behind the ban of the top battle royale game was unveiled. However, it can be expected that such a measure was taken to ensure national security is not at stake.
Is Free Fire a Chinese game?
Free Fire is developed by 111dots Studio and published by Garena. While Garena is a Singaporean company, 111dots Studio is Vietnamese. From this statement, it can be concluded that it is not a Chinese game.
However, Garena was founded by Forrest Li in 2009. His roots can be traced back to China, but he has established his career in Singapore and is the company's chairman and Group CEO.
Garena's parent company is SEA (Southeast Asia) Limited, also based in Singapore.
What is the cause of the ban?
The government has not disclosed the cause of the ban of the famous battle royale game. Garena had addressed the issue when the game was unexpectedly taken down from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
Despite the ban, users can still enjoy the game if it is pre-installed. It is expected that the servers will become inaccessible after a few weeks. Mobile gamers can also head to the Google Play Store to download the enhanced version, Free Fire MAX. This title is still up for download.
Check out the latest Free Fire MAX redeem codes here.
