Update May 19th, 2023: Krafton announced on Friday that BGMI will be coming back and the game will be available for download soon. The company thanked the Indian authorities for allowing the relaunch of BGMI in India. While Krafton has not announced a relaunch date yet, we expect the game to be available for download on iOS and Android in the coming days. Those who already have the game installed on their devices might see a notice that reads, “server is not online yet.”
The original story follows…
Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) was banned in India last year due to security issues concerned with Chinese-linked apps. Months after the ban, there have been rumours surrounding its possible comeback in India, and a new report now states that BGMI is indeed coming back to India, albeit with conditions.
BGMI unban in India
The government of India has decided to temporarily lift the ban on BGMI for three months, according to a report by News18. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) plans to issue an order to unblock BGMI from Google Play Store and App Store, the report added. The publication states that this information came from a top-level MeitY official.
This will however be more of a testbed for BGMI in India as the game will be under analysis and monitoring during the three-month period. Also, if the app is found violating any of the country’s rules then it will be banned again.
BGMI is said to come back with more changes and adjustments. Rumours suggest that there will be a time limit and restrictions on the number of hours one can play the game. Krafton also plans to reduce violent graphics in the game by changing the colour of blood in the game. When BGMI was available in India, players could change the colour of blood to red and green, but now that’s going to be set by default.
There’s still no official announcement from Krafton or the centre on the comeback of BGMI in India and such reports have been floating around for months. But even with its ban lifted, it’s interesting to see how BGMI manages to continue operating in India considering the radar it will be under and conditions it would have to agree on. BGMI was one of the most popular battle royale games in India with over 100 million users here.
BGMI itself was a customised version of PUBG Mobile that was part of the first wave of Chinese apps banned in India. The game was modified with adjustments adhering to the country’s required rules and regulations but there were still security issues which led to its removal from the country’s servers and app stores.
