Free Fire, one of the top battle royale games banned by the Indian government in February last year due to security concerns, is making a comeback.
Free Fire India will be made available for download exclusively in the country from September 5, Garena, a Singaporean global online games developer and publisher, said August 31.
“Free Fire India will be an India-exclusive app. It will come with content and features that are specific to the Indian market," Vaibhav Das Mundhra, senior manager and game producer at Garena, told Moneycontrol.
The company roped in MS Dhoni as the brand ambassador for Free Fire India. He will be the first Indian sportsperson to be featured in-game as a playable character called ‘Thala.’ Dhoni will be joined by football captain Sunil Chhetri, badminton champion Saina Nehwal, tennis legend Leander Paes, and Kabaddi champion Rahul Chaudhari.
Along with features and content specifically developed for Indian users, there are a range of features designed to promote safe, healthy and fun gameplay, the company said. The safety features include a verification system to enable parental supervision, gameplay limitations and ‘take a break’ reminders.
Data security check
To address security concerns, Garena has tied up with Yotta, a Hiranandani Group company empanelled as a service provider with the ministry of electronics & information technology. Yotta will provide local cloud hosting and storage infrastructure for Free Fire India and manage the personal data of Indian users on local servers and network connectivity services to support Garena’s product offerings in India, including in esports, the company said.
"They are RBI (Reserve Bank of India) approved, so they are a company that we trust. With their help, we will make sure that the data of Indian users stays secure. We also collect very little data of users but whatever data is there, we will be working very closely with Yotta to make sure data is handled in a way that complies with local regulations,” Mundhra said.
eSports 2023: India to send teams to Hangzhou Asian Games, other international events
Free Fire India's launch comes when esports has been considered as a medal event at the Asian Games scheduled in China from September 23 to October 8. This year also marks the comeback of BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India), another top battle royale game that was banned last year.
Also read: Game on: BGMI tournaments are back; prize pool to get bigger after trial period
With the comeback of top esports games, the industry expects significant growth in the Indian market.
"We have announced the Free Fire India Championship (FFIC), the tournament that will represent India on the global level. The second tournament is an offline international tournament in Uttar Pradesh and that is where we bring the world to India. This is likely to be scheduled in December, when we will call international teams to compete against teams from India. There will be more events along with the ones we have announced. The prize pool is going to be sizeable but the focus will be to pick out the right talent," said Mundhra.
FFIC will be open to teams across India and the winners will get the opportunity to represent India at the Free Fire World Series in Thailand in November. Garena and Yotta have signed an agreement with the Uttar Pradesh government to drive the development of esports in India.
Garena co-founder Gang Ye said the focus is to support the development of India’s esports and startup ecosystems.
"India is home to very passionate communities of esports enthusiasts. The Free Fire India Esports Championships is our first step in building out our platform of esports events and activities in the coming months to empower Indian esports athletes to succeed globally," he said.
Also read: BGMI ban to disrupt e-sports space, but for short term: Nazara Tech's Nitish Mittersain
Esports popularity
The popularity of esports has grown in terms of players, spectators, sponsors and prize pools even after a ban on several popular esports games, according to a 2023 FICCI-EY report on media and entertainment.
"Esports was recognised as a multi-sports event by the Indian government in December 2022. This recognition is expected to encourage more sponsorships and gamer participation," the report added.
The number of esports players grew fourfold to 600,000 in 2022 from 150,000 in 2021 and this number is projected to increase to 1.5 million by the end of 2027, according to the State of Indian Gaming Report, 2022, compiled by Lumikai Investment Advisors, a gaming and interactive entertainment venture fund, and Amazon Web Services.
Revenue of the esports industry grew to Rs 1,100 crore in 2022 from Rs 1,000 crore in 2021.
Also read: BGMI maker Krafton to invest $150 million on Indian gaming and entertainment startups
Free Fire, one of the popular esports games in India before the ban, had over 40 million monthly active users in the country in January 2022, compared with 75 million globally. Now, with the launch of Free Fire India, Garena is focusing on developing esports at the grassroot level.
"Growing esports talent, grassroot talent will be the focus. Esports is taking off in India and it is the right time to promote esports in the country. India is a key market for Garena. We will continue to do more events and not just at global and national levels but at the grassroot level," Mundhra said.
Also read: 28% GST only applicable to iGaming; will not affect video game industry: Esports Federation
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