Krafton seems to have received official approval for BGMI from the Indian government to continue its operations in the country, sources familiar with the matter told MoneyControl. The latest development comes after Battlegrounds Mobile India completed a rigorous three-month audit and during that time, the game didn’t receive any criticism by the government for any feature.
While this is a positive step forward for BGMI and its dedicated player base, it’s important to note that the government has reportedly outlined a strict monitoring plan. BGMI will be subject to quarterly assessments to ensure continued compliance with all relevant regulations. These assessments will focus on various aspects of the game’s operation. India Today has reached out to Krafton for an update on this and we will update the copy once we get confirmation regarding the same.
But, it is worth highlighting that BGMI’s rival – Garena Free Fire – also just got approval to return to India after being suspended for approximately one and a half years. The fans of these games will likely be pleased by the fact that they are both now available in India and will remain here for a longer time.
To recall, BGMI’s journey to regain approval began when it secured a three-month trial basis from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in May 2023. This approval arrived nearly ten months after the game was suspended from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store following a government directive.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar shed light on the trial approval, citing BGMI’s successful resolution of issues related to server locations and data security. He previously emphasized that the government would closely monitor additional factors, including user harm and addiction, during the three-month trial period before making a final decision. Prior to their suspensions last year, BGMI and Free Fire ranked among India’s highest-grossing Android apps. Since its re-launch in May 2023, BGMI swiftly regained its status as the leading Android app by revenue on the Google Play Store in India, as per reports.
The new iteration of BGMI is slightly different from the previous version, which was banned in India for nearly a year. It now has limited playtime for adults and minors. The playtime for users under 18 years of age is three hours and the rest of the players can play Battlegrounds Mobile India for six hours on a daily basis. In addition to this, parental verification and daily spend limit for minors is also there in the game.
