The BGMI ban has shocked the gaming community in India, mainly because of its heavy use for eSports competitions. One such competition, which was to take place in the first week of August, has been postponed almost indefinitely in view of the BGMI restrictions in the country. Crafton, the creator of BGMI, faces a ban in the form of removal from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The BGMI sports ban comes at a time when a series of eSports events were scheduled.
The Esports Premier League (ESPL) Season 2 was scheduled from August 1 to August 5 on the BGMI platform. Now the organizers have stopped the event in view of the BGMI ban. The eSports title was being organized with a prize pool of Rs 1 crore.
“As we understand, the concerned entities will evaluate/follow the matter in accordance with the directions issued by the Government of India,” ESPL said in a statement.
“Therefore, we are constrained to postpone ESPL Season 2 in light of the instructions of the Government and the prevailing circumstances,” the company said.
Another gaming tournament on BGMI, called Router, started before the ban and will continue until August 3. The platform hosted a BGMI Invitational esports tournament with a prize pool of Rs 15 lakh. The event was to take place from 25 July to 3 August and those who had downloaded the BGMI game before the ban could still play it. Thirty-two Indian teams, including 24 invited teams and eight underdog teams, were to face off in the 10-day tournament.
The game is still available to play on devices that have the game downloaded to their phones and tablets. BGMI also provided users with a side-load option. The APK was listed on the official website of the company.
Reports suggested that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) took action to ban BGMI because of its “China connection” to the Ministry of IT (MeitY), where BGMI was allegedly “communicating to servers in China”.
The Government of India had ordered Google and Apple to block the BGMI gaming app from their respective online stores under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Game developer Crafton said last month that BGMI has crossed 100 million registered users in India. The game also completed its first year since its launch in early July, hosting a number of events.
The delay in major eSports tournaments following the BGMI ban first appeared on BGR India.
