Garena relaunches Free Fire as localized 'Free Fire India' four years after Indian national-security ban
Garena, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Sea, launched Free Fire India on Android and iOS on 28 October 2026. The standalone localized version of the battle royale game comes more than four years after India banned Free Fire in February 2022 over alleged links to China, alongside 53 other apps. The new version adds India-specific content, parental controls, playtime limits and spending caps, and hosts user data on servers in India. Garena says it worked with relevant Indian government authorities and incorporated their feedback, but it did not explain why the planned 2023 launch was delayed or what changed to allow the release now. This is business and regulatory news with no direct threat to defenders.
Detalhes técnicos
- User data for Free Fire India is hosted on servers in India, which addresses the data-localization concerns behind the original ban.
- Free Fire MAX was never banned and remains available. Players can use one account across both games, play together and join the same events.
- Per Sensor Tower data cited by TechCrunch, the Free Fire franchise had about 77.4 million monthly active users in India in June, against 20.8 million for Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), the localized PUBG Mobile successor from Krafton.
- The 2022 ban reportedly wiped more than $16 billion off Sea's market value in a single day.
Linha do tempo
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Garena relaunches Free Fire as localized 'Free Fire India' four years after Indian national-security ban
ler a análise desta fonte ocultar
Garena, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Sea, launched Free Fire India on Android and iOS on 28 October 2026. The standalone localized version of the battle royale game comes more than four years after India banned Free Fire in February 2022 over alleged links to China, alongside 53 other apps. The new version adds India-specific content, parental controls, playtime limits and spending caps, and hosts user data on servers in India. Garena says it worked with relevant Indian government authorities and incorporated their feedback, but it did not explain why the planned 2023 launch was delayed or what changed to allow the release now. This is business and regulatory news with no direct threat to defenders.
Technical Details
- User data for Free Fire India is hosted on servers in India, which addresses the data-localization concerns behind the original ban.
- Free Fire MAX was never banned and remains available. Players can use one account across both games, play together and join the same events.
- Per Sensor Tower data cited by TechCrunch, the Free Fire franchise had about 77.4 million monthly active users in India in June, against 20.8 million for Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), the localized PUBG Mobile successor from Krafton.
- The 2022 ban reportedly wiped more than $16 billion off Sea's market value in a single day.