Garena Free Fire India ban: Server status, network issues, and more

Free Fire has carved out a place for itself in the mobile segment while also raising the bar on several fronts. It has successfully attracted millions of players in India, but those gamers have not had a good time over the past few days after the game was banned by the Government of India.

Since then, players have been more preoccupied with thoughts of the game's availability itself rather than enjoying the tons of events available in it.

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Free Fire ban in India

Server status and network issues

Players are facing this error when accessing the regular version (Image via Garena)

Even before the announcement of the ban, Free Fire was pulled from both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, causing consternation among game enthusiasts. As of now, the game is not available for download on any platform.

Those who already had the game installed on their smartphones can still play it as per usual, which suggests that the game's servers are still accessible by the Indian players. That said, users on some networks are reportedly struggling to access the online game, indicating that a few providers have already blocked it. Also, the error while making the top-up still exists.

Regardless of whether or not this version of the game is available to players, they should avoid playing it since the Government has blocked it.

The MAX version still seems to be available (Image via Google Play Store)

Strangely enough, Free Fire MAX was not added to the list of banned applications and remains accessible on the Google Play Store as of this writing. While players may temporarily switch to this version, uncertainty surrounds its future as well, given that both versions use the same servers and have the same mechanics.

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What after the ban?

Garena remained silent on the subject until the game was finally banned. The developers then said in a statement that they were aware of the game's unavailability to users in India and that they were working to address the problem.

Since then, there have been no further updates on the situation, and gamers are eagerly waiting for news about their favorite title. For now, it remains to be seen how this ban will affect the game's content creation and esports ecosystem in the country.