Free Fire return fires up Indian gaming enthusiasts

Singapore-based gaming firm Garena announced the launch of an India-specific version of Free Fire on Thursday.

- Shouvik Das

The popular battle royale video game was banned in February 2022 as part of the electronics and information technology ministry’s crackdown on 54 Chinese apps that were suspected to be sending data outside India. The game will be available for download from 5 September.

Vaibhav Mundhra, general manager for game operations at Garena India, said the game is being relaunched after consultation with the government officials. Several changes were made to the title, he added.

“Changes to the title include limits to playing time, spending and age of registration, and visual changes in the gameplay that were required for the title here. We have also partnered with Yotta for data centre services, to localize and store data between India and Singapore."

To follow regulatory guidelines after the ministry-driven approvals, the changes to the title “amount to the sum total of what we understand to be important", Mundhra added.