Garena Free Fire: What Is It, Why Was It Banned, and 5 Alternatives to Play in India

gadgets.ndtv.com:

Garena Free Fire has banned by the Government of India, in an order released on Monday. The battle royale game is a part of a list of 54 apps that have links to China and could pose a threat to India's security. The app has also been temporarily blocked on Google Play store in accordance with the government's orders. Garena Free Fire gained its current popularity as an alternative to PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite that were banned by the government in September 2020.

Free Fire is a battle royale game developed by Garena International in 2017. The game involves 50 players who battle each other in a deathmatch where the last one surviving is declared the winner. Similar to other battle royale games, players are thrown out of an aeroplane weaponless and have to fetch weapons, respective ammunition and attachments, medical items, and armour in order to survive in the match. All of the aforementioned items are spread out across the map and players can also loot them by eliminating the enemy.

Also like other battle royale games, players in Garena Free Fire must collect arms, ammunition, and other items for survival before the time elapses. Alternatively, players also have to make sure they're in the safe zone as the maps shink constantly during a game.

Garena Free Fire, along with 53 other apps, was banned by the Government of India in an order disclosed on Monday. In a statement, the government mentioned, "These 54 apps allegedly obtain various critical permissions and collects sensitive user data. These collected real-time data are being misused and transmitted to servers located in hostile country." The government also mentioned that there may be serious breaches of security and espionage that these apps may carry out via