Battle-royale game BGMI, with 16.5M MAUs in India, delisted from iOS and Android app stores after Indian government ban, two years after a ban of Krafton's PUBG
wonder who those are and whether the deals are still happening. Aditya Kalra / @adityakalra : On @Reuters - a source says BGMI game of Krafton banned under section 69A of IT law, often used to ban Chinese apps due to national security concerns. Krafton shares fell 9 pct in morning trade in South Korea https://twitter.com/... Gagan Arora / @gagan_arora1 : As BGMI is no longer available on Google Play Store, really feel disappointed/sad. #BGMI & #PUBG single-handedly made gaming mainstream in India while new age smartphone companies made powerful devices accessible at affordable prices. Aditya Kalra / @adityakalra : Google blocks Krafton's battle-royale game @BgmiDev in India, cites ban order by PM Modi's government. Krafton shares slumped more than 9% on the news on Friday, quickly paring losses to trade down 5.7%. https://www.reuters.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
BGMI was Krafton’s re-entry vehicle after PUBG Mobile’s earlier nine-month Indian ban and return under a new name. The renewed Section 69A action shows that a renamed release did not resolve the government’s national-security concerns.
The later time-limited approval to relaunch BGMI reinforces that Krafton’s access to India is being determined through government permission rather than a durable app-store presence.
First-order effects
- Krafton loses India distribution for BGMI on both Google Play and Apple’s App Store, while its shares fell about 9% in South Korean trading after the ban.
- Apple and Google must enforce the Indian government’s block, cutting off the two primary mobile storefronts for BGMI in the country.
Second-order effects
- Krafton’s India strategy shifts from product relaunches toward securing regulatory clearance, because a store listing can be removed when the government invokes Section 69A.
- Google and Apple become the operational enforcement layer for Indian app restrictions, making their local storefront availability contingent on government action rather than publisher demand.
Third-order effects
- Repeated removal and conditional return point to a mobile-games market in which government authorization, not only app-store compliance, determines whether global publishers can maintain access.
- If this pattern persists, publishers serving India will face more volatile launch and monetization planning whenever national-security reviews target their apps.
The trend: India’s mobile-app market is becoming more state-mediated, with platform distribution subject to government security decisions and conditional approvals.