India approves 3-mth trial of the battle-royale game
Published: 08:05 AM,May 19,2023 | EDITED : 12:05 PM,May 19,2023
/FW1F/Dhanya Ann Thoppil
India has approved a three-month trial of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), a popular battle-royale format game that was banned for nearly a year, a minister from the government said on Friday.
The Indian government had blocked BGMI, the flagship game made by South Korea's Krafton Inc, in July, citing concerns about its data-sharing and mining in China. Krafton is backed by China's Tencent.
This is a three-month trial approval of BGMI after it has complied with issues of server locations and data security, Indian deputy minister for Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said in a tweet. At the time of its removal from Alphabet Inc's Google Play Store and Apple Inc's App Store, BGMI had more than 100 million users in India. A Facebook page for the title says the game will be available for download soon.
The government will keep a close watch on other issues of user harm and addiction in the trial period before making a final decision, Chandrasekhar added. New Delhi banned another Krafton title, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), in 2020, following which the company launched BGMI.
The ban on PUBG was part of a larger ban on more than 300 Chinese apps, including short-video platform TikTok, after the government ramped up its scrutiny of Chinese businesses in the wake of a 2020 clash between the neighbors.
The government also intensified the scrutiny of investments by Chinese firms in Indian companies.
The Indian government had blocked BGMI, the flagship game made by South Korea's Krafton Inc, in July, citing concerns about its data-sharing and mining in China. Krafton is backed by China's Tencent.
This is a three-month trial approval of BGMI after it has complied with issues of server locations and data security, Indian deputy minister for Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said in a tweet. At the time of its removal from Alphabet Inc's Google Play Store and Apple Inc's App Store, BGMI had more than 100 million users in India. A Facebook page for the title says the game will be available for download soon.
The government will keep a close watch on other issues of user harm and addiction in the trial period before making a final decision, Chandrasekhar added. New Delhi banned another Krafton title, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), in 2020, following which the company launched BGMI.
The ban on PUBG was part of a larger ban on more than 300 Chinese apps, including short-video platform TikTok, after the government ramped up its scrutiny of Chinese businesses in the wake of a 2020 clash between the neighbors.
The government also intensified the scrutiny of investments by Chinese firms in Indian companies.