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BGMI to make comeback after 10 months, Govt and Krafton India confirm

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After months of speculation, popular Battle Royale (BR) game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) is coming back after being banned in the country for almost 10 months. While there were reports recently suggesting the unban is likely to transpire soon, it has now been officially confirmed.

Thanking the government and the gaming community, Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of Krafton India, said in a statement, “We would like to express our deep appreciation to the Indian authorities for permitting us to restart the operations of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). Krafton, Inc., as a responsible South Korean company that abides by the law, has put in place several measures to ensure compliance to all Indian laws.”

“We are grateful to our Indian gaming community for their support and patience over the past few months. 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,” he added.

While the company did not dive into more details or any restrictions that might be accompanied with resumption of the game (restriction in gameplay time for players or any form of censorship), Minister of State, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Rajeev Chandrasekhar, however, revealed that the game has been unbanned for three months, and they would be monitoring issues of user harm, addiction before a permanent unban is granted.

With the announcement, BGMI will be the first game to be unbanned from the previously banned 300+ apps by the government.

Krafton had previously stated that they were working with the government to bring BGMI back along with developing other games and focusing on investment in the Indian gaming sector. Many stakeholders were skeptical, but the announcement has put a lid on everyone’s doubts.

The game was banned in July 2022 under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000 by MeitY through a series of requests sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

With this announcement, players are sure to be excited to get their hands on the OG BR game. The unban, if given a permanent one, will also put the Indian gaming sector back on track after a Niko Partners report suggested that without BGMI, Indian gaming market might see slow growth in 2023.

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