KRAFTON received full approval to operate BGMI in India following three-month audit

To maintain approval, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) must now submit quarterly evaluations.

The approval comes before the three-month trial period, granted by MeitY to KRAFTON in May of this year for the India-only game, expires.

The development is anticipated to bring KRAFTON significant relief because it removes the regulatory uncertainty for one of the top-grossing games in the nation.

According to reports, the Center has given the South Korean gaming giant KRAFTON full approval to run its battle royale game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) in India.

According to sources cited by Moneycontrol, the approval was given after the company successfully completed a three-month audit process. According to the report, the game will now need to pass quarterly evaluations in order to maintain its approval.

The company should be greatly relieved by the development because BGMI, one of the top-grossing games in the nation, has been bogged down in numerous regulatory issues in the nation.

The government’s action comes before the end of the three-month trial period that KRAFTON was given by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for the game that was only available in India in May of this year. The game was removed from Google Play and the Apple App Store as a result of a ministry order that was issued almost ten months prior to the pilot program.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for IT, stated in May that the game received interim approval following compliance with government directives on matters relating to server locations and data security, among other things.

The announcement follows closely on the heels of Singaporean gaming powerhouse Garena’s return to the nation after having its game Free Fire suspended for more than one and a half years. Adapting KRAFTON’s strategy, Garena has released a version of the well-known game Free Fire for India that will go live on September 5. In addition, it has a partnership with Yotta, a cloud service provider owned by the Hiranandani Group, to adhere to data localization standards.

Prior to their suspension, Free Fire and PUBG, now known as BGMI, were two of the highest-grossing Android games in the nation. While Garena is anticipated to benefit from the expanding Indian market for online gaming, BGMI has enjoyed significant success following its relaunch in India.

India has become one of the world’s hottest gaming markets as the number of people using the internet and smartphones rises. As a result, numerous international businesses, including Chinese competitor Tencent and Taiwanese gaming giant Softstar, have sprinted for India and introduced products specifically for Indian consumers.

In FY22, Indians played mobile games an average of 8.5 hours per week, according to a report. It is important to note that popular games have much higher user bases than lesser-known ones, with players spending more time on them.

On account of the increasing popularity of online gaming, India’s gaming industry is predicted to grow to a market size of $8.6 Bn by FY27.