What was the reason for and how BGMI was stopped in India

New Delhi, Aug 12 : After blocking a variety of Chinese applications two years ago like PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds (PUBG) because of security concerns for the nation The Indian government has shut down the battle royale based on PUBG game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) with 100 million users in India.

Although there isnt a formal government statement regarding the BGMI ban Here is the chronology of the reasons and how the BGMI game was removed from Google and Apple app stores in the country.In November of 2020 it was revealed for the first time PUBG Mobile will be revived in India under the brand new name PUBG Mobile India.

One year after the suspension of PUBG, South Korean game creator Krafton released BGMI in 2021, only for gamers in India.Within the same month PUBG Studios and South Koreas video game company Krafton have registered PUBG India Private Ltd under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in the hope of relaunching PUBG Mobile in the country.

In June 2021 a controversy erupted due to the beta release for Android users.Data taken from Android devices were transferred to Tencents China servers.

In the wake of the data sharing violation, Krafton issued an update to fix the issue of data sharing with servers located in China.Krafton revealed the announcement of the launch of the BGMI game in May 2021.

The game finally launched on July 2nd for Android devices and on August 18 for iOS devices.In the space of just one year BGMI has reached 100 million registered users.

In the past year, Krafton said it invested close to $100 million in order to improve Indias video game local to India as well as e-sports and entertainment startups to create an ecosystem of healthy gaming start-ups.According to experts, in the so-called new avatar, BGMI was not different from the earlier PUBG, with China-based Tencent still in charge in the background.

In February of this year the non-profit organization Prahar wrote to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the IT Ministry (MeitY) to stop the "Chinese app BGMI" under section 69A of the Information Technology Act, as it "poses an imminent threat to the integrity and sovereignty of India as well as the defense of India and security of the state, and the public law".In response to the governments directive following the governments order, tech giants removed the battle royale game that is popular from their respective app stores on July 28.However it is possible to play the game played by players who have already downloaded the application.In the wake of Kraftons quarterly earnings conference Thursday morning, Krafton CFO Bae Dong-geun said that the company respects and understands Indian governments concerns "We have been operating the service on strict data security standards and monitoring.

We will closely collaborate with authorities to come up with ways to allow customers in India to continue enjoying BGMI," Dong-geun said.Following the governments order to Google as well as Apple to end BGMI certain gaming companies have written letters to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking for fair treatment to promote the gaming industry in India.

The government has up to the present blocked more than 300 Chinese apps.Some of these apps changed their names in new avatars to gain access to India but were again banned.vc/na/sk.