In fact, Sea's Garena has yet to launch its popular mobile title in India a full six months after announcing it would do so. That delay has stoked worries among entrepreneurs and investors who are watching how Sea executes its expansion strategy in the lucrative South Asian market.

Garena, the gaming unit of Sea, had announced plans to launch Free Fire in India in August last year, marking a return more than a year and a half after the title was banned in India. The firm that has partnered with Yotta, controlled by local giant Hiranandani, for cloud and other storage needs of local users' data in the country said it will release the title in India on September 5.

The firm, however, has yet to launch the game six months after appointing Indian cricket icon Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador in the country.

"We're still making changes," Yanjun Wang, group chief corporate officer at Sea, said on the earnings call this week, adding that the Singapore-headquartered giant has "no material development" to share.

Free Fire, one of the games India loved with a user base of more than 40 million, left its ardent followers frustrated with Garena's veil of information about the relaunch, and several gamers shifted their interest to Krafton's BGMI.
   
We have been so patient with garena and free fire since the last 2.5 years! Dont know how much longer can we wait. Dont know what to do

No, dont think they even care about esports in India anymore

India banned Free Fire and dozens of other Chinese apps in 2022. Days later, Sea said it was shutting down Shopee's operations in India, months into testing the social commerce service in the country.

The testing of Shopee in India had come under fire from local retailers within the country. The Confederation of All India Traders, a powerful lobby group for hundreds of thousands of offline retailers in India, had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cautioning that the entry of yet another foreign player indulging in what it called "unfair trade practices" will hurt the local ecosystem.

India had banned Krafton's PUBG in the country too, but later allowed the company to release a similar battle royale game. Krafton's title has emerged once again as the most popular game in India.