BGMI game returns to India under strict conditions; close watch on user harm, addiction [details]

South Korean giant Krafton on Friday announced that it has secured the approval from the Indian authorities to resume operations of the video game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI).

The company plans to make the title available for download in the South Asian market “soon”.

“We are highly grateful to the Indian authorities for allowing us to resume operations of Battlegrounds Mobile India. We would like to extend our gratitude to our Indian gaming community for their support and patience over the past few months,” Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of Krafton India, said in a statement.

“We are excited to announce that Battlegrounds Mobile India will be available for download soon and we cannot wait to welcome you back to our platform. We are committed to delivering exceptional products and services to our users in India and beyond, and we look forward to continuing our journey with you,” he added.

BGMI under close watch in India

Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday clarified that the final decision to allow video game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) to return to the country will only be taken after three months of a strict trial of the game.

The minister said that the government will keep a close watch on other issues of “user harm, addiction, etc in next three months before a final decision is taken”.

“This is a three-month trial approval of BGMI after it has complied with issues of server locations and data security, etc,” he said in a tweet.

Krafton later announced the launch of the BGMI game in May 2021.

BGMI in India

The move comes less than two years after the Indian government banned Krafton’s marquee offering PUBG in the country. PUBG then had nearly 33 million users in the country and was growing fast.

In November 2020, it was revealed for the first time that PUBG Mobile would be relaunched in India under the new entity ‘PUBG Mobile India’.

In the same month, PUBG Studios and South Korea’s video game company Krafton registered PUBG India Private Ltd under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in order to relaunch PUBG Mobile in the country.

Krafton announced the launch of the BGMI game in May 2021. The game was finally released on July 2 for Android devices and August 18 for iOS devices.

In a span of one year, BGMI surpassed 100 million registered users.

Later, the Indian government ordered Google and Apple to block the BGMI gaming app from their respective online stores.

Google and Apple pulled the popular battle royale game BGMI from their respective app stores.

The ban was under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Non-profit organisation Prahar claimed that BGMI was no different from erstwhile PUBG, as it “poses a threat to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, and public order”.

(With inputs from agency)