Data migration concerns and Chinese connections gloom over the Indian Esports Community.
BattleGrounds Mobile India spread like wildfire among teenagers during its launch. Thanks to Players Unknown BattleGrounds popularly known as PUBG. After PUBG got banned from the regional Google Playstore of India and Apple Store along with 118 more Chinese apps, South Korea Krafton published the game under a new name, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). It is not surprising to know that China's Tencent Holdings has a 13.6% stake in the company through its subsidiary Image Frame Investment.
It was 2020 when PUBG came up with a ‘Pharoah’ update to the game and a little after, we learned it was banned by the Government of India. This time BGMI also came up with the same update and voila it got banned again. Jokes apart, The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) banned the game under Section 69A of the Indian IT law, blocking public access to content in the interest of national security, among other reasons.
The game is not yet banned in India, as players can still access the game if it is installed on their smartphone. The Esports community is exasperated with the decision made by the Government of India. “Really comes as a shocker because the Growth of Esports in India has been tremendous. All will come down to a stop if something happens to BGMI (The top esports game in India). Trust will be broken. People who HOPED, will remain hopeless. I hope you look into the matter @GoI_MeitY”, MortaL, a top gamer of BGMI tweeted. On the other hand, similar games like Garena Free Fire, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty are still available on the Playstore and Apple Store and are good options to consider.
Now, it is uncertain if BGMI will make a comeback in India. The developers need to stick to the Government’s regulations if they are searching for a path to a comeback.
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