Free Fire returns to India four years after the ban

Localized release after four years of ban

More than four years after Free Fire was banned in India, Garena, owned by Singaporean conglomerate Sea, has brought the popular battle royale game back to the market — as a standalone app called Free Fire India for Android and iOS. As TechCrunch reports, the new version includes India-specific content, parental controls, limits on playtime and spending, and user data is stored on servers located within the country. The launch came more than three years after Garena announced a similar release in September 2023 and then quietly postponed it.

Context of the ban and consequences for Sea

Free Fire was one of India's most popular mobile games when, in February 2022, New Delhi banned it along with 53 other apps over alleged ties to China — on national security grounds. The game had gained popularity after India banned its rival PUBG Mobile in September 2020 banned its rival PUBG Mobile. The Free Fire ban sent Sea's shares tumbling: the company's market value lost more than $16 billion in a single day, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the enhanced version Free Fire MAX was not covered by the ban and remained available to players, and Garena itself continued operating in India.

Competition with BGMI and Garena's position

In response to the ban, the South Korean publisher of PUBG Mobile, Krafton, released Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) — a version built specifically for Indian players — but it failed to catch up with the Free Fire franchise: according to Sensor Tower, in June the franchise had about 77.4 million monthly users in India versus 20.8 million for BGMI. Garena's head of operations in India, Vaibhav Das Mundra, told TechCrunch that Free Fire MAX will remain available alongside Free Fire India: players will be able to use a single account in both games, play together and take part in the same events. According to him, the company worked with Indian government agencies and took their feedback into account when preparing the release, but did not answer questions about the reasons for the delay of the 2023 launch or about what has changed now.

Market and esports

While the launch remained on hold, Garena, through its studios in Pune and Mumbai, continued developing games for the Indian market — based on Hindu mythology, cricket and the game of ludo, TechCrunch notes; some of them were released, and one, Versus, was in early access on Google Play but is no longer listed in the store. India remains a significant mobile gaming market: in the second quarter, mobile game downloads grew 14.2% quarter over quarter to 2 billion, and revenue rose 3.7% to more than $106 million, according to Sensor Tower. Free Fire MAX also maintained a presence in Indian esports: the teams S8UL Esports, Apex Gaming and Total Gaming competed at the Esports World Cup 2026. S8UL Esports co-founder and CEO Animesh Agarwal said the return of Free Fire India could open up more opportunities for players and content creators for whom the game is the foundation of an esports career.