In addition to improving the gameplay, Garena, the gaming division of Singapore-based Sea Limited, said it will take some time to fully finish localizing the Free Fire India experience.
On September 5th, India was supposed to see the release of the video game Free Fire.
Free Fire India, the much-anticipated battle royale game from Singapore’s Sea, will now be available in “a few more weeks,” according to Garena, the company’s gaming arm. On September 4, the news was made.
Free Fire India launch in a few weeks in 2023
The game made a comeback after being put on hold for over 1.5 years due to worries about national security, and it was anticipated that Indian users would be able to download it starting on September 5. It’s vital to remember that Garena continues to provide the more expensive “Free Fire Max” version, which was not prohibited by the Indian authorities.
It stated in a statement that “we are taking some time to fully complete our localization of the Free Fire India experience, in addition to fine-tuning the gameplay.”
The company stated that it was delaying the release of Free Fire India so that it could provide the “best possible experience to all of our Free Fire India fans” right away.
On August 31, Garena made its initial announcement about the launch of Free Fire India and named former Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador.
According to Moneycontrol’s interview with Vaibhav Das Mundhra, senior manager and game producer at Garena, Free Fire India will be a mobile application customized to India with features and content tailored to the country’s market. Additionally, Dhoni will appear in the game as the playable character Thala.
Additionally, Yotta, a Hiranandani Group firm and a cloud service provider appointed by MeitY, had joined with Garena to provide local cloud hosting and storage infrastructure for Free Fire India. In order to enhance Garena’s product offerings in India, notably in esports, Yotta will manage the personal data of Indian customers on local servers and network connectivity services, the business said.
In addition, Garena had a contract with the state of Uttar Pradesh to promote the growth of eSports in India.
The move was made three months after rival Krafton was given approval by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to relaunch the exclusive-to-India app Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) in May 2023 following a 10-month suspension on a three-month trial basis.
Moneycontrol exclusively reported on September 1 that Krafton had allegedly finished a three-month audit and received full government approval to manage BGMI. According to Moneycontrol, Krafton will now undergo evaluations every three months.
According to app analytics company Sensor Tower, Free Fire generated the most income in India in 2021 across Google Play and Apple’s App Store, hitting an estimated $34.3 million in in-app spending the previous year.
Free Fire’s return to India, along with BGMI, is anticipated to help the nation’s rapidly expanding esports industry, which was negatively hurt by its ban last year.
According to Manish Agarwal, founder of Kratos Studios, a community-based gaming platform that goes by the name IndiGG, India presently has over 1 million esports players, and this figure is anticipated to rise with the relaunch of Free Fire. Manish Agarwal also stated that the game is best suited for low-end Android devices.
The relaunch of the game, according to Animesh Agarwal, founder of 8Bit Creatives, an esports consultancy and talent agency, would also significantly strengthen the developer’s community.
By providing them with a wide range of interesting content, “Free Fire India will assist producers in growing and expanding their fan bases inside the industry. As the game receives fresh interest and involvement, “there will be an influx of interest as well as investments from brands into the ecosystem,” he said.