Play Games
5 months ago
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Free Fire India has mysteriously disappeared from Google’s Play Store after being available for pre-registration.
Garena is yet to comment on the issue and players are left concerned.
On 2nd December 2023, Free Fire India mysteriously “disappeared” from the Play Store which caused panic among the game’s fans. The store page has been removed from Google’s Play Store and it is currently inaccessible. Free Fire India is an India-only version of Free Fire that was supposed to launch sometime this year.
Registrations for the game were open and many speculated that the game would be released in September 2023, but there has been no update from Garena for months. While the studio has not confirmed if the project has been scrapped or not, the game’s store page has mysteriously disappeared.
Why Was Free Fire India Removed From The Play Store?
Free Fire India was supposed to replace the original Free Fire for the Indian audience in a move similar to how Krafton released Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) to replace PUBG Mobile. The unreleased game was expected to meet content guidelines and address security concerns.
According to Google’s guidelines, “After you make an app or game available for pre-registration in a country, you need to launch it in production there within 90 days.”
Games that are listed for pre-registration for longer than 90 days are typically delisted and it is very likely the reason why the game has been removed. Players who had pre-registered can still manually visit the game’s page and it tells them that they will be notified when the game is ready for release.
Garena is yet to comment on the issue and until the publisher reveals exactly why the game has been delisted, we will not know for certain why the game is no longer available on the Play Store.
Free Fire MAX is still available to play
Do note that Free Fire MAX is still playable and you get the same gameplay experience as the original Free Fire with enhanced visuals. Unfortunately, Free Fre MAX is hardware intensive and you need a powerful smartphone to run it unlike the base game which is compatible with low-end smartphones as well.
Abhimannu is a PC esports writer at AFK Gaming. With over seven years of experience in esports journalism, he has worked on a myriad of games and their ecosystems including Valorant, Overwatch and Apex Legends.
