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NEW DELHI — Alphabet Inc’s Google on Thursday blocked access to a popular battle royale game from South Korean developer Krafton, citing an Indian government order.
Krafton shares fell more than 9% after the news on Friday, quickly paring losses to 5.7%.
In a statement, the US tech giant said India had ordered the game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) to be blocked, forcing it to remove the app from its Play Store.
The game’s website revealed that it has more than 100 million users in India. The ban comes on the heels of India’s 2020 ban on another Krafton title, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG).
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“Upon receipt of the order, following an established process, we notified the affected developer and blocked access to the app,” a Google spokesperson said.
BGMI was also not available on Apple Inc’s App Store on Thursday night in India.
The reason for the block was not immediately clear.
In Seoul, a Krafton spokesperson said the developer is talking to the relevant authorities and companies to understand the exact situation regarding the suspension in the two major app stores in India.
Local representatives for Apple 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 Google received the government takedown order within the last 24 hours.
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India cited security risks when it banned PUBG, but the move was widely seen as a result of deteriorating business ties with China. At the time, China’s Tencent held the rights to publish PUBG in India.
The crackdown was part of New Delhi’s ban on more than 100 mobile apps of Chinese origin following a months-long border standoff between the nuclear-armed rivals.
The ban has since expanded to cover more than 300 apps. (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Nupur Anand and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Clarence Fernandez)
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