- // Update 1 (28/07/2022 10:25 pm) Google confirms BGMI pulled on govt order
In an unexpected turn of events, Battlegrounds Mobile India, popularly known as BGMI, appears to have been banned in India today. The India-specific version of Krafton’s popular battle royale game, PUBG Mobile, has been removed from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Let’s check out all the details around the alleged BGMI India ban.
Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) Banned?
BGMI players took to social media platforms and online forums to complain about the disappearance of BGMI from the Play Store earlier this evening. The reports of the game being removed from the iOS App Store have since also emerged online, further fueling the rumors of the game’s ban in India.
We have independently verified the reports and BGMI is not available to download on the Play Store and iOS App Store on our devices as well. As you can see in the screenshot below, searching for BGMI on the Play Store returns PUBG Mobile alternatives but skips on the title in question here.
Also, on Android, moving to the Krafton Inc. publisher page on the Play Store only shows the newly launched PUBG New State title. That’s not all, though. We are backing this article we ample proof about the removal of the Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) game in India. We also searched for the BGMI Play Store listing on desktop, and well, the game has indeed been removed. It shows an app “Not Found” error on the desktop.
Note: BGMI is working fine and available to play to those who already have the game installed on their devices. The servers don’t seem to be offline, and there is no warning message in the app yet.
BGMI recently announced that it has garnered over 100 million players and celebrated its first anniversary in India. Now, merely a month later, the game (an India-exclusive clone of PUGB Mobile, which was banned a couple of years ago) has unexpectedly disappeared, begging us to question – has BGMI (aka PUBG Mobile) been banned in India once again? Do let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Currently, there is no official word from the government and the game’s developer Krafton. So stay tuned for more information.
Update 1 (28/07/2022 10:25 pm)
In an official statement to TechCrunch, a Google spokesperson has confirmed that BGMI has been removed from the Play Store in response to a government order. Check out the complete statement right here:
“On receipt of the order, following established process, we have notified the affected developer and have blocked access to the app that remained available on the Play Store in India.” Krafton is looking into the request for the game’s takedown from app stores in India, so stay tuned for more information.
