"Garena is making a strong effort to bring back Free Fire": Shiva Nandy speculates about FF's return, also mentions BGMI

Whether it's BGMI, Free Fire, Valorant, or any other influential game in the Indian gaming community, Skyesports founder and CEO Shiva Nandy never shies away from voicing his opinions about the esports industry in the country. In the past few months, Nandy has been vocal about BGMI's unban in India and the competitive scene while putting out positive speculations.

Shiva Nandy's recent Instagram story (Image via Instagram/@shivamarvelnandy)

This time, the Skyesports CEO has also mentioned something optimistic that can cheer many of Free Fire's Indian fans. Writing about the Indian esports industry, Shiva dropped hints about Garena's efforts to get FF back in India. Here's what he penned on his Instagram story:

"It seems that Garena is making a strong effort to bring back Free Fire in India and is just a few steps closer. BGMI is also set to make a comeback anytime soon. With games like BGMI, Free Fire, Counter Strike, Pokémon Unite, [and] Valorant, the Indian esports industry is poised to reach new heights."

However, even if Shiva Nandy is among the top stakeholders in the Indian gaming scene, his words about FF and Battlegrounds Mobile India's return seemed like speculation. Thus, fans must take them with a grain of salt unless Garena or Krafton provide any official statement.

Moreover, Nandy's story highlighted the rise of the Indian esports scene, regarding which Skyesports has also unveiled its CS: GO league with a two crore INR prize pool.

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Free Fire and BGMI were blocked in 2022 by MeitY for data security reasons

FF and Battlegrounds Mobile India have been banned for a long time, with no news about their return. Garena's flagship Battle Royale title was banned in February 2022 for data security reasons, alongside a plethora of other applications (primarily Chinese). At the same time, Battlegrounds Mobile India got blocked by the Indian government's MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) for similar reasons.

In more than a year of its ban, Free Fire has gotten replaced by its MAX variant, which is still operational and is receiving updates on time. However, Battlegrounds Mobile India has stopped receiving any patch updates and is still stuck on version 2.1, which was rolled out by Krafton in July 2022, before the ban.

Although there has been no news of unbanning of either game, Krafton has seemed visibly interested in resuming Battlegrounds Mobile India's operations. The South Korean game company has taken a few opportunities to talk about its efforts to get the Indian PUBG Mobile variant unbanned. However, Garena appears to have moved on from FF while seemingly abandoning its esports plans for India.