Has BGMI been banned? App removed from Google Play Store on 28 July BGMI gets removed on both Android’s Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store today!
8:54 PM – UPDATE: BGMI ban in India seems confirmed now as reports claim that it was due to a government order, a person familiar with the matter confirmed.
8:45 PM UPDATE: BGMI has been removed from the Apple App Store as well.
9:00 PM – UPDATE: Google releases statement, “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.”
Battlegrounds Mobile India seems to have vanished from Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The most popular mobile game in the country can’t be found on both the app stores. If searched, other games appear but not BGMI. While it isn’t clear why it has vanished, many Twitter users fear it has been banned by the government. They claim that BGMI has met PUBG’s fate. PUBG was banned in India two years ago.
Both PUBG and BGMI were developed by South Korean company Krafton Inc. Since PUBG was published in India by China’s Tencent, the government had banned PUBG in India. BGMI was launched in India after PUBG was banned. For all practical purposes, both the games are the same.
Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch that they have received a government order. “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,” the spokesperson added.
There is a possibility that the game is made available again, but Twitter users are absolutely sure that the government has banned the game.
“According to @GametubeI, sources have confirmed that #BGMI has been banned in India,” a user wrote.
“I don’t think so it’s banned there might be some glitch on the play store or with BGMI team #BGMI,” wrote another.
“Everyone knows the fact that esports in India has rapidly touched heights and recently televised. I hope our government understands that thousands of esports athletes and content creators and their life is dependent on BGMI,” a user wrote.
There isn’t a government statement saying BGMI has been banned in India.
“No one knows the reason. Let’s hope for a better announcement. Earlier they banned PUBG mobile now BGMI. BGMI might have some bug issues like it has hacked version but that doesn’t mean you banned it ,” wrote another.
Popular Battle Royale game, BGMI has been delisted from the Google Play Store and App Store without any prior official notice. However, the game is still available to download on the App Store. MySmartPrice has reached out to Krafton for a comment on the development and we have got a response back from the development team.
BGMI has reached out to MySmartPrice with a comment where it says it is clarifying how BGMI was taken down from the Play Store. “We are clarifying how BGMI was removed from Google Play and will let you know once we get specific information,” the company said in an official statement. We will be updating the story once we get to know more about the issue clear.
BGMI Removed from Google Play Store and App Store
Battlegrounds Mobile India appears to have been removed from the Android Google Play Store. But it is available from the iOS App Store for Apple users. The reason for this removal of the game on the Play Store is still unknown and several players have been reporting the issue to Krafton.
Those players who have the game already installed on their Android devices will be able to play the game. There are no issues for Android users even when playing it and all of the in-game content is working fine. As of now, new users aren’t able to download the game from the Play Store as the app seems to have been taken down by Google. It may be a glitch or error from Google’s end on the Play Store as we have seen apps being taken down briefly in the past and only to be restored later.
Although this does bring to mind a similar incident where Free Fire got banned earlier this year, it was mysteriously removed from the Google Play Store. After a few days, the Indian Government announced that the game was banned. Here’s hoping that’s not the case.
