Garena Free Fire, the immensely popular battle royale mobile game and PUBG rival, has disappeared from Google Play and Apple App Store. At this point, neither Garena International, the distributor of the popular game, nor Apple and Google have released a statement related to the disappearance. However, the development comes just a month after Krafton, the distributor of PUBG Mobile and PUBG Battlegrounds for PC, filed two separate lawsuits demanding its ban. Garena Free Fire’s enhanced version Free Fire Max still remains available on Google Play but unavailable on Apple App Store. It is unclear whether the already-downloaded version of game is still working on smartphones.
Also read: Boy, 14, Dies By Suicide Over Garena Free Fire: What Is The Game, Why Is It Banned And Can You Still Play It?
Last month, Krafton accused Garena of directly copying elements from PUBG Mobile and in a separate lawsuit, sued Google and Apple for allowing the game to be on their respective app stores. Krafton also alleged that YouTube played a role as it allowed streamers to showcase Garena Free Fire on its platform. The lawsuit read, “Free Fire and Free Fire Max extensively copy numerous aspects of Battlegrounds, both individually and in combination, including Battlegrounds’ copyrighted unique game-opening ‘airdrop’ feature, the game structure and play, the combination and selection of weapons, armour, and unique objects, locations, and the overall choice of colour schemes, materials, and textures".
Krafton had claimed that it asked Garena International to “immediately stop" exploitation of the two games. Krafton feared that Garena Free Fire’s in-game revenue was growing steadily despite earning more revenue from the PUBG franchise. The Verge had pointed out that the Garena Free Fire franchise earned $414 million in 2021, while PUBG Mobile made $639 million, including India and China-specific versions of the game.
Garena Free Fire gained massive popularity following the ban of the original PUBG Mobile in India in 2020. The game also remains popular among fans as it regularly engages with players by offering new codes for free rewards. The website is still opening, at the time of writing this article.
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