Krafton to cooperate with the Indian Government to uplift the ban on BGMI

Krafton has reportedly said it is working with the Indian government towards a possible lift from the ban on Battlegrounds Mobile India. BGMI is the most popular Battle Royale game with over 100 million users in the country.

Bae Dong-geun said the company understands the Indian government’s concerns and respects the decision to block BGMI in the country. “We have been directly running the service based on stringent data security standards and monitoring. We will closely cooperate with the authorities to find ways for the users in India to keep enjoying BGMI,” Dong-geun said.

Will the Government of India lift the stay order on Krafton BGMI?

BGMI was banned by stating concerns over national security and allegations that the game was transferring user data from India to China. It used Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 to impose the ban on BGMI. After the government ordered Google and Apple to ban BGMI, some gaming companies wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting for a ‘fair treatment’ to help foster the gaming ecosystem in the country.

Addressing the ban, Krafton India CEO Sean Hyunil Soh wrote a lengthy note to BGMI players and said that, “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.” 

Krafton reported a $337.6 million increase in net income and a $727.7 million increase in revenues during the first six months of the year. A major e-sports tournament was postponed as a result of the ban on BGMI, the Indian version of PUBG. There have been rumours that the ban was instituted due to a “China connection.” The ban from last week caused the second season of the Esports Premier League (ESPL) to be postponed.

It should be noted that currently BGMI is just blocked in India and not banned. So, there are chances that the game might head back to the play store soon, but that will happen only if Krafton is able to fulfill the requirements of the Indian government.