Google blocks Krafton's battle-royale game in India, citing government ban (updated)

KRAFTON

28/07/2022 18:42

(Adds details on ban order, context)
    NEW DELHI, July 28 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's  GOOGL.O 
Google on Thursday blocked access to a popular battle-royale
format game from South Korean developer Krafton  259960.KS ,
citing an order from the Indian government. 
    In a statement, the U.S. technology giant said the Indian
government had ordered the Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI)
game be blocked, forcing it to remove the app from its Play
Store.  
    According to the game's website, it had more than 100
million users in India. The block comes after another Krafton
title, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), was banned in India
in 2020. 
    "On receipt of the order, following established process, we
have notified the affected developer and have blocked access to
the app," a Google spokesperson said.
    BGMI was also unavailable on Apple Inc's  AAPL.O  App Store
on Thursday evening in India. 
    The reason for blocking the game was not immediately clear. 
    Krafton, local representatives of Apple and India's IT
ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment
outside regular business hours.
    A source with direct knowledge of the matter said Google had
received the government take down order in the last 24 hours.
    Indian authorities cited security risks when banning PUBG
but the move was widely seen as fallout from deteriorating
India-China business ties. At the time, China's Tencent held the
publishing rights for PUBG in India.
    The crackdown was part of a broader ban of more than 100
Chinese-origin mobile apps by New Delhi, following a months-long
border standoff between the nuclear-armed rivals. 
    Since then, the ban has been expanded to more than 300 apps.

 (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi;
Additional reporting by Nupur Anand; Editing by David Evans,
Kirsten Donovan)
 ((Nupur.Anand@thomsonreuters.com; +9122 68414388;))