Sea is “still making changes” and is yet to launch its popular mobile game Free Fire in India, more than six months after announcing plans.
Sea Group chief corporate officer Wang Yanjun said during an earnings call this week that the Singapore-based giant was still making modifications to the game to take into account “local user preferences” and had “no substantial progress” to share.
Sea’s gaming arm Garena announced plans to relaunch Free Fire in India in August last year. At the time, Garena said that Free Fire India would be launched in the country on September 5. Garena said it has partnered with local giant Hiranandani-controlled Yotta to meet cloud and other storage needs for local user data in the country. It has also appointed Indian cricket icon Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador in the country.
Free Fire was once the most popular game in India, but Garena’s lack of transparency regarding its relaunch frustrated its loyal fans, causing many players to abandon the game in favor of Krafton’s BGMI.
Hai declined to comment.
India will ban Free Fire and dozens of other Chinese apps in 2022. Days later, Sea said it would shut down Shopee’s operations in India, after months of testing social commerce services there.
Shopee’s tests in India have sparked criticism from local retailers in the country. The Confederation of All India Traders, an influential lobby group for dozens of offline retailers in India, has contacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to warn With him, the arrival of yet another foreign actor engaging in so-called “unfair trade practices” harms the local ecosystem.
