NEW DELHI: The government is yet to release an official statement as to why BGMI is banned in India but the fact that it has forced both Google and Apple to take down the BGMI game from the respective app stores through an order citing the Section 69A of the IT act means that the government considers the BGMI game as some form of cyber threat.
As per an earlier report by News18, a senior government official said that the BGMI app is found to be communicating with servers directly or indirectly located in China. “The analysis also showed that this application has malicious code and also acquires a host of critical permissions, which could be misused for compromising user data for surveillance through camera/microphone, location tracking, and malicious network activities,” a senior government official told News18 on the condition of anonymity.
There’s no denying that BGMI will have to comply with local laws to do business in India but what’s interesting is that Krafton somewhere already knew that they were going to face this problem soon. This may be the reason as to why the BGMI game was released as an APK file on the official website of BGMI. If you are thinking that you will be able to download the APK file now (after the ban), then it’s a bit late, as Krafton has taken it down. However, you can get it from source APK websites.
But the thing is, if you are a BGMI fan, then chances are that you already have the game downloaded on your smartphone and you can still play it whenever you want to.
Having said that, the good news is that Krafton is not giving up hopes and it wants to stay in the Indian market after following local laws. To recall, when PUBG Mobile was banned in India in 2020, it just took Krafton 10 months to re-enter the Indian gaming market with BGMI. Even this time, Krafton is continuing to assure gamers in India. In its official statement, Krafton said, “We kindly request you to wait to hear from us. We will keep you informed about further updates. We look forward to strengthening our partnerships and collectively fostering the gaming ecosystem in India.”
Here’s the full statement from Krafton regarding the BGMI ban in India: “We are committed to the Indian market and are positive about the opportunities in the country. At KRAFTON, Inc. the security and privacy of our user data is of utmost importance to use. We have always been compliant with all laws and regulations in India including data protection laws and regulations and will continue abiding by them.
We thank you for all the love and support you have shown us in our journey uptill here and hope to continue our association in the future as well. There may be questions in your minds regarding the current situation about the country’s most loved game – BGMI. In line with this, we have been working hard to communicate our sincerity with the concerned authorities and resolve the issues.
We kindly request you to wait to hear from us. We will keep you informed about further updates. We look forward to strengthening our partnerships and collectively fostering the gaming ecosystem in India.”
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