The ban of the Free Fire mobile shooter in India has greatly shaken the position of Sea, the parent company of Garena. Yesterday, the Singapore authorities expressed concern about the decision and appealed to the Indian government for an explanation of the reason for the blocking.This was reported by Reuters with reference to four anonymous sources familiar with the situation.
The ban on Free Fire was motivated by the struggle of the Indian authorities with Chinese applications. However, Singapore noted that Sea is located in a separate city-state and is not connected with China in any way.
As part of the appeal, the Singapore authorities asked if the blocking could have occurred by mistake. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India, in turn, conveyed concerns about this issue to the Information Technology Department, which ordered the ban on Free Fire.
According to Reuters sources, it is not yet known whether the Indian government plans to somehow answer Singapore’s questions.
After the ban of Free Fire, the market value of Sea, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, fell by $16 billion per day. Investors fear that India may extend the ban to Shopee, a Singapore—based company’s shopping app that recently launched in India.
The Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps in 2020 after a border conflict with China. Among them was the PUBG Mobile shooter developed by Tencent, which as a result returned to the country last year under the new name Battlegrounds Mobile India.
In February, India launched a new wave of bans and brought the total number of blocked applications to 321.
Like PUBG Mobile, Free Fire was one of the most popular mobile games in India. According to Sensor Tower, the Garena shooter was the leader in the country in downloads. However, in 2021, Indian users accounted for only 2.6% of Sea’s total revenue from mobile games.