Google blocks Krafton's battle-royale game in India after government order

Alphabet Inc's Google on Thursday blocked access to South Korean developer Crafton, a popular battle-royal format game, citing an Indian government order.

In a statement, the US tech giant said the government had ordered the Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) game to 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 Crafton title, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), was banned in India in 2020.

"Upon receipt of the order, following established processes, we have notified the affected developer and blocked access to the app," a Google spokesperson said.

BGMI was also unavailable on Apple Inc's App Store in India on Thursday evening. The reason for the stoppage was not immediately clear. Crafton, Apple's local representative 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 that Google received the government's take down order within the last 24 hours.

Authorities cited security risks when banning PUBG but the move has largely been seen as a result of worsening India-China trade relations. At that time, China's Tencent took over the publishing rights of PUBG in India.

The crackdown was part of a broader ban on more than 100 Chinese-origin mobile apps by New Delhi after a month-long border standoff between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Since then, the ban has expanded to more than 300 apps.