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The report gained wide popularity on social media and reached the nation’s parliament this month. Last month, a local media report - whose authenticity has been questioned by many - claimed that a child had killed his mother under the influence of the game.
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(Reuters reported Friday that India has banned BGMI under section 69A of local IT law.) New Delhi has cited national security concerns when banning other apps. It was unclear why the Indian government had ordered to block Battlegrounds Mobile India. According to Sensor Tower, Battlegrounds Mobile India had amassed over 16.5 million monthly active users in the country. The South Korean-headquartered firm said earlier this week that over 100 million users had signed up for the game in India in the past one year since launch. Krafton - which has backed a number of Indian startups including Nodwin Gaming, Loco, Pratilipi and Kuku FM in the past one and a half years - told TechCrunch earlier this week that it estimated that its investment in India will touch about $140 million by next month. Krafton said it had cut ties with its publishing partner Tencent, which is also a major investor in the firm, and pledged to invest $100 million in India’s gaming ecosystem. Of the hundreds of apps that New Delhi has banned in the country, Krafton’s PUBG was the only title that made a return - though with a completely revamped avatar. India has since reacted to the move by banning over 300 China-linked apps including PUBG and TikTok, both of which counted India as their largest overseas market by users. The development follows a growing tension between India and China, two nuclear-armed neighboring nations that have been especially at odds since deadly skirmishes along the Himalayan border in 2020. Shares of Krafton tumbled over 9% on Friday, until partial recovery. The app was delisted by Google from the Play Store on Thursday evening, and Krafton itself delisted the app from the Apple App Store shortly afterwards, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told TechCrunch. The iPhone-maker didn’t respond to a request for comment.Ī Krafton spokesperson acknowledged the delisting and said the company was seeking clarification. The Android-maker confirmed the development shortly after publication of the story. “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,” a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch. The BGMI game has also been delisted from Apple’s App Store in the country. Google has pulled the popular battle royale game Battlegrounds Mobile India, more popularly known as BGMI, from its Play Store in India after a government order, a year after developer Krafton launched the app following a ban on its other similar title PUBG in the South Asian market.