With Garena Free Fire banned in India, can fans expect BGMI Lite release announcement soon?

Now that Free Fire was unexpectedly banned by the Indian government, many battle royale mobile gamers are looking forward to the release of the lighter version of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). It is the biggest competitor of Garena’s flagship title in India.

Mobile gamers were shocked on 12 February 2022 when the game was unexpectedly taken down from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Ironically, Free Fire MAX is still available for download on Android devices.

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Will BGMI Lite arrive soon now that Free Fire is banned?

The battle royale game has been taken down from both the stores (Image via Sportskeeda)

There is no connection between BGMI Lite and Free Fire aside from the fact that they are both battle royale games. Moreover, nothing official has been confirmed by Krafton, the developers of BGMI, regarding the release date of the lighter version.

However, the timing of BGMI Lite's release amidst the ban of Garena’s flagship title is the most favorable, according to many battle royale gamers. Famous Esports caster and battle royale enthusiast, Ocean Sharma, is also of the opinion that now is the best time to release a lighter version of BGMI.

BGMI Lite is sought after by players due to its low device requirements and compatibility advantages. Free Fire is a major advantage in this area as it can run smoothly on low-end devices, and players can still access the servers now. However, it is expected that it will be taken down shortly.

The poll on the Battlegrounds Mobile India's official Discord server (Image via Discord)

The confirmation of BGMI's lighter version has not been confirmed by the developers, but the closest they came to acknowledging it was via a post on the official Discord page of Battlegrounds Mobile India. In the post, they asked players to choose the reason why they wanted the release of BGMI Lite. Whether the battle royale game is still under development is unknown to players.