Garena Free Fire ban: Timeline, statements, and more

Free Fire enthusiasts in India have been disheartened ever since the news regarding the game’s suspension broke a few weeks back. This has been a significant setback for the content creators that make videos related to the game and also for the esports athletes, leaving them wondering what will happen next.

The suspension of the battle royale title was preceded by and followed by several other events. Here is a timeline to keep the players updated.

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Timeline of the Free Fire ban

1) Login issues (February 12, Morning)

Login issues were faced by players on February 12(Image via Facebook)

On February 12, users started facing login issues on specific mobile networks. They complained about the same to the developers. This is also the same time period where the initial rumors regarding the ban started floating on the internet.

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2) Apple App Store removal (February 12, Afternoon)

Soon after the login issues, users were met with a surprise blow as their beloved title and its improved version were removed from the Apple App Store. Users were surprised, as there was no justification since the ban wasn’t announced back then.

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3) Exclusion from Google Play Store (February 12, Evening)

The game was additionally removed from the Play Store (Image via Sportskeeda)

During the same evening, Free Fire was also removed from the Google Play Store. Consequently, the title was inaccessible for download on both the Android and iOS platforms. However, surprisingly, the MAX variant stayed on the Play Store.

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4) Ban news (February 14, Afternoon)

This was when the nightmare came true for the game’s followers in the country, as the government of India named Garena Free Fire among the 54 banned applications. According to reports, it was due to security concerns, which was also why the previous ban waves had taken place in the country.

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5) Singapore asks for clarity (February 24, Evening)

In a new development, Reuters revealed that the Singapore government has reached out to the Indian government to converse on the reasons behind the ban being imposed on the popular battle royale title.

Apart from these, there haven’t been any other developments as of this writing.

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Statement from the developers about Free Fire’s ban

Here is a statement from Garena after the ban was announced:

“We are aware that Free Fire is currently unavailable in the Google Play and iOS app stores in India and that the game is currently not operable for some users in the country. We are working to address this situation, and we apologize to our users for any inconvenience.”

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Reactions and more

Fans have been left stunned, and listed below are a few of their reactions:

In addition, developers have modified the titles of the country's social media profiles to Free Fire MAX India. It will be interesting to see how the game's suspension in the country plays out in the future.