Garena Free Fire vs PUBG: Krafton drags Free Fire to court in shocking development

Last month, PUBG developer Krafton had filed a court case against Garena Free Fire. Today Free Fire has been banned in India and it has been removed from app stores too.

Before the Garena Free Fire banned story broke, PUBG maker Krafton had taken the company to court. Today, India has slapped a ban on 54 Chinese apps (Garena International)

Notably, the Garena Free Fire banned order from the Indian government has come as a shock to gamers. Garena Free Fire ban means it stands removed from Google Play Store and Apple App Store too. Yes, it's official, Garena Free Fire is no more in India! The Indian government has banned the battle royale game Free Fire while citing national security issues. Not just this, but 54 Chinese apps have been banned by India, including Free Fire today. Due to this mass ban of Chinese apps, gamers will not be able to play it on Android phones or iPhones. Notably, this development comes after PUBG developer Krafton dragged Garena Free Fire to court and made some serious allegations. The competitor battle royale games, PUBG developer Krafton had already made certain moves against Garena Free Fire. Last month, Krafton had filed a case in a court against Garena Free Fire. The case was also against Apple and Google for distributing Garena's games through their app stores. Here's what had happened.

PUBG developer's lawsuit against Garena Free Fire

Reason why Garena Free Fire was under fire by Krafton was really serious. PUBG maker Krafton said Garena Free Fire was a ‘blatant' copy of PUBG: Battlegrounds and that it was being used without paying any licensing fees. Garena was accused of copying the 'air drop' feature in the beginning of the game, its structure, selection of weapons, maps and overall feel of the game. Well, the PUBG vs Garena Free Fire lawsuit was not just against Garena, it also dragged in Apple, Google and YouTube too for distributing Free Fire on App Store and Play Store respectively and making massive amounts of money from it.

The lawsuit mentions the two games of Garena, one is Free Fire which was launched back in 2017, and the second one is Free Fire Max, which made its way to the screens of gamers in September 2021. Surprisingly, both the games were accused of being the copy of Krafton's PUBG and its Indian version BGMI. But the recent ban mentioned only Garena Free Fire. Garena Free Fire Max is available on Google's Play Store, which raises questions regarding the reasons for its ban.

Significantly, the timing of the decision to ban Garena Free Fire is leading to confusion among gamers. Both Play Store and App Store removed Garena Free Fire on Sunday and the very next day, on Monday, the Indian government slapped its ban on 54 Chinese apps, one of which is Garena Free Fire. So far no reaction has come from any company, whether it is Garena Free Fire, PUBG, Apple or Google to clarify the issue.

It is also unclear what has become of the Garena Free Fire vs PUBG copyright issue. Well, the only news for Garena Free Fire fans is that they can still play the game if they already have it on their smartphone, or they can try the Garena Free Fire Max game on Android smartphones. However, they will soon become unavailable as this is exactly what happened when PUBG Mobile India was banned by the government.