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Rushindra Sinha, the founder and CEO of Global Esports, recently claimed that he believes Free Fire might not return to India. He stated that it had been a long time since the ban of the game, and yet the government and the game’s publisher, Garena, have not hinted about its return. Sinha also spoke about Global Esports’ Pokemon Unite roster and stated that the organization had not made a final decision about it.
Popular Free Fire content creator Ajay “Total Gaming” (also known as Ajju Bhai) also joked about leaving Free Fire after receiving a copyright strike from Garena on one of his Free Fire videos.
Sinha speaks about Free Fire’s return
The government of India has banned two of the most popular battle royale titles in the country, PUBG Mobile and Free Fire, and suspended another battle royale title, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI). PUBG Mobile was banned in India in September 2020, citing national security and security concerns. Following this, Krafton introduced an Indian variant of the game, BGMI. However, the government banned Free Fire in February 2022 and suspended BGMI later in July, again citing national security and security concerns.
In a recent livestream, a viewer asked Sinha whether Global Esports would sign a Free Fire roster after the game gets unbanned in India. Responding to this, Sinha claimed that it would not return to India as it has been over a year since the game’s ban. “The game is not going to unban. If it were to be banned, it would have already been unbanned by now. It has been a year. I don’t think Garena and the government have come to a conclusion about getting the game unbanned. I don’t think it will happen. Let it unban first,” he said.
Following this, Sinha also spoke about PUBG Mobile and BGMI. He stated that it had been a long time since the ban of PUBG Mobile and the suspension of BGMI. “It has been 30 months since the ban of PUBG Mobile. It will be eight months for the ban of BGMI. When the games get unbanned, we will work towards them,” he said.
Another viewer asked Sinha whether Global Esports had planned to sign a Pokemon Unite roster. Responding to this, Sinha stated that the organization had not made a final decision about it. “We are still on the fence. We are still not sure if we want to get into Pokemon Unite yet,” he said. “Personally speaking, I don’t enjoy watching the game; it is a great game to play. I know everyone at the guild house loves playing the game, and they spend a lot of time playing the game. It’s not as much fun to watch. Unfortunately,” he added.
Total Gaming jokes about leaving Free Fire
Recently, Total Gaming received a copyright strike from Garena on one of his YouTube videos titled “1 VS 4 AJJUBHAI IS NOW WOODPECKER GUN HACKER - GARENA FREE FIRE,” and was taken down. Total Gaming tweeted about this and tagged YouTube and Free Fire India. According to Total Gaming, the video was a Free Fire gameplay video without any music.
Total Gaming responded to this tweet and jokingly said it was time to leave Free Fire.
There is still a lot of uncertainty about the return of BGMI and Free Fire. On the one hand, Krafton has been actively communicating with BGMI’s audience, stating that it is working on resuming the game’s services in India. On the other hand, Garena has been completely silent about Free Fire’s return. It is still unclear whether either of the games will make a comeback to the country.
