BGMI ban - Battlegrounds Mobile India still works, but only on installed devices
BGMI ban - Battlegrounds Mobile India still works, but only on installed devices
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| If BGMI is installed on your Android phone, you can still play the game,(Image Source: Krafton) |
Battlegrounds Mobile India, or BGMI mysteriously disappeared from both the Apple Play Store and the Google Play Store on January 28. While there is no official statement from the game or publisher Krafton, Google has shared that the removal was due to an official order.
However, the game itself continues to be playable and indianexpress.com can confirm that there is no server-side ban implemented as of writing this story. This means that if you already have BGMI installed on a phone or tablet, it will continue to function without any issues for now.
However, if you uninstall it, there would be no official way of installing the game again. The same goes for other phones, as even the APK link for the game on the official BGMI website has now been taken down. While an APK file may be available on third-party websites, this workaround is not advisable as third-party sites can tamper with APK files and could potentially malware.
Meanwhile, you can still extract the BGMI APK file from a device that has the game installed by using apps like APK Extractor. This file can then be shared with other devices.
Has BGMI been ‘banned’?
It is still difficult to guage if BGMI has been completely banned in India, like PUBG Mobile. Gamers and creators like Abhijeet Andhare, also known as Ghatak Gaming, have tweeted about the disappearance of the game and suggested that this isn’t a permanent ban.
As per a report by Talk Esport, officials from Krafton are set to meet MeitY representatives later today to further discuss the issue. We should soon have an official update on the status of the game in India.