Sea is “still making changes” and has yet to launch its popular Free Fire mobile game in India, more than six months after announcing plans to do so.
Yanjun Wang, group corporate director at Sea, said during this week’s earnings call that the Singapore-based giant is still making game changes to take into account “local user preferences” and not has “no material development” to share.
Garena, Sea’s gaming unit, announced plans to relaunch Free Fire in India in August last year. At the time, Garena said that Free Fire India will be available in the country on September 5. Garena said it had partnered with Yotta, controlled by local giant Hiranandani, for cloud and other data storage needs of local users in the country. She has also appointed Indian cricket icon Mahendra Singh Dhoni as her brand ambassador in the country.
Once a beloved game in India, Free Fire has left its devoted fans frustrated by Garena’s lack of transparency regarding the re-release, leading many players to abandon the title in favor of Krafton’s BGMI.
Sea declined to comment.
India Banned Free Fire and dozens of other Chinese apps in 2022. Days later, Sea said it was close Shopee operations in Indiamonths after testing the social commerce service in the country.
Shopee’s tests in India sparked criticism from the country’s local retailers. The Confederation of All India Traders, an influential lobby group for scores of offline retailers in India, had contacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, warning him that the arrival of another foreign actor involved in what They were supposedly “unfair trade practices” damaging the local ecosystem.