Krafton to soon relaunch BGMI mobile game in India after year-long ban

New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) 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.

The move comes less than two years after the Indian government banned Krafton's marquee offering PUBG in the country.

It was in September 2020 when the Indian government banned PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile, along with 117 Chinese applications, citing a threat to India's sovereignty, integrity and defence under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

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".