Garena Free Fire is Chinese or not? Rumors explained

The past few days have been quite dramatic for Free Fire fans in India, as the government banned Garena's popular battle royale shooter. Although the Ministry of Electronics and IT hasn't given any detailed statement regarding the ban, the reason cited for the action was related to the nation's "security." The authorities also stated that the apps banned were "allegedly involved in collecting sensitive user data."

The popular BR shooter was one of the 54 applications that the government of India banned. As the list of apps surfaced on the internet, many started referring to the banned applications as "Chinese." The rumors and discussions that followed the ban were similar to those after PUBG Mobile's ban.

Readers can find out more about the authenticity of the claims and rumors behind calling Garena Free Fire a "Chinese" app in the following section.

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Garena Free Fire: The origin of the game and Chinese connection explored

Garena has been linked with various games across many regions (Image via Garena)

The popular BR shooter was introduced in 2017 to target mobile phone users. The fast-paced survival shooter aimed at a larger audience with low-end smartphones and provided them with a battle royale experience (unique at that time for mobile games).

It was developed by 111dots Studio, a Vietnamese indie game developer company. Garena came onboard to publish the game, and a brand was formed resultantly. Interestingly. Garena is a Singaporean company linked to many games in various regions.

Garena is a subsidiary of Singapore-based Sea Limited, co-founded by Gang Ye (Director and COO) and a Chinese-born Singapore national, Forrest Li (Chairman and CEO). Sea Limited is a tech conglomerate that holds various companies apart from Garena.

Readers should note that Tencent, a Chinese conglomerate, has a link with Garena. Interestingly, Tencent is also known for its associations with games like PUBG Mobile (via Krafton's Bluehole) and COD Mobile (owning the developers TiMi Studios).

Currently, Tencent owns around an 18.7% stake in Garena, which is the latter's rumored Chinese connection. However, Tencent owning a stake in Garena doesn't make the latter a Chinese application as the connection is merely a byproduct of globalization.

Hence, it can be concluded that Garena is not a Chinese company, and therefore Free Fire is not Chinese.

Note: 'Free Fire Max' is still available for download on Google Play Store.