The Centre has granted its approval for the resumption of operations for Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), an immensely popular online multiplayer shooting game with a focus on the Indian market. The game was launched by South Korean gaming giant Krafton as a replacement for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), which was banned by the government in September 2020 due to concerns over data-sharing and mining in China. Additionally, BGMI faced another ban in July of the following year. It is worth noting that Krafton Inc is financially supported by China’s Tencent.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has stated that this approval is for a three-month trial period, during which the gaming company has addressed issues related to server locations and data security.
“This three-month trial approval for #BGMI has been granted after the gaming company demonstrated compliance with requirements concerning server locations and data security, among other factors.”
When the IT Ministry banned the previous version of BGMI, known as PUBG, along with several other Chinese apps, it stated that these apps were involved in activities that posed a threat to the sovereignty, integrity, defense, security, and public order of India.
At the time of its removal, BGMI had amassed a user base of over 100 million in India. In accordance with a directive from the government, the app was taken down from both Google Play Store, owned by Alphabet Inc, and Apple Inc’s App Store.
