BGMI and 50 other Apps banned in India
Google pulled off this game from Google Play Store. A spokesperson from Google told TechCrunch, “On receipt of the order, following established process, we have notified the affected developer and have blocked access to the app that remained available on the Play Store in India.” Shortly after, Krafton, the developer, delisted the game itself from the Apple App Store as told to TechCrunch by a person who knew about this. Apple is yet to respond to TechCrunch for a comment.
Here are the names of all 54 apps apart from BGMI that have been banned by the Government of India in 2021:
What does Krafton have to say?
A spokesperson from Krafton confirmed the delisting and said they are seeking clarification. As soon as it happened, Krafton’s shares dropped over 9% on 29th July 2022, until they recovered partially. India banned more than 300 apps having links with China since tension soared between both countries resulting from the skirmishes along the Himalayan border in 2020. Of all the banned apps, Krafton’s PUBG was the only game that returned with a revamped avatar. Headquartered in South Korea, Krafton declared that it had cut all ties with Tencent Games, its publishing partner. It also pledged to invest $ 100 million in the gaming ecosystem of India. Krafton said repeatedly that PUBG and BGMI are different games. Moreover, the developer had put safeguards in place including enforcing a time limit on the usage and login authentication to prevent misuse. Sean Hyunil Sohn, Krafton’s India CEO, told TechCrunch, “The game is extremely popular, and these issues come with the territory. We don’t know the details of the fraud and how it was committed, but these are extreme cases. We constantly work towards securing a safe gameplay experience for users.” “The government does not intervene in which apps can function and which cannot. They intervene in digital security and privacy concerns, and BGMI complies with all guidelines. MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) has also noted that PUBG and BGMI are different games,” he added. The company also invested in startups in India like Loco, Nodwin Gaming, Kuku FM, and Pratilipi. They told TechCrunch earlier that its investment in India will touch $ 140 million within the next month. Since its launch, BGMI was downloaded more than 100 million times in India and had 16.5 million active users monthly. Also Read: India Bans PUBG Mobile and 118 Apps: The Full List of Banned Apps
Reason for the ban
The Government of India did not give any reason for this decision. But Reuters said it could have been done based on Section 69A of Indian IT laws. It was also reported last month by local media with questionable authenticity that a child killed his mother under the game’s influence. This news also reached the parliament. Junior IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the law enforcement agencies are investigating the matter. The instruction to remove BGMI came almost a year after India banned PUBG. Are you a fan? Did you play the game? Let us know in the comments section below how the news of Bgmi and 50 other apps banned in India hit you.
