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Singapore-based game developer Garena has postponed the much-awaited launch of the exclusive Indian version of the popular battle royale game Free Fire by ‘a few weeks’ to fully complete its localisation.
Last week, Garena said Free Fire was set to make a comeback in India after being banned for a year-and-a-half, with the game available for download on September 5.
However, the company said it is postponing the launch of the game to offer the ‘best possible experience to all their Free Fire India Fans’.
“In addition to refining the gameplay, we are taking some time to fully complete our localisation of the Free Fire India experience,” the company said in a statement.
Garena first announced the launch of its exclusive ‘Free Fire India’ version on August 31, with former captain of the India cricket team MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador.
The company also said that Free Fire India will be an India-exclusive app, with features and content that are specific to the local market.
The Ministry of Home Affairs banned Free Fire in India in February last year, along with 53 other apps, due to security concerns. However, Garena continued its operations in India by providing a premium version of the game, Free Fire Max, which was not banned by the Centre.
The latest version of Free Fire in India will have a verification system to enable parental supervision and gameplay limitations, among others, to address the Centre’s concerns.
The company has also partnered Yotta, a Hiranandani Group company, for the relaunch. Yotta will provide local cloud hosting and storage infrastructure for the game.
Last week, it was also reported that South Korean gaming giant KRAFTON received full approval from the Centre to operate its battle royale game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) after a three-month long audit process.
With rising internet and smartphone penetration, India has emerged as a lucrative market for gaming companies over the last few years. The number of esports players in India surged four-fold to 6,00,000 in 2022 from 1,50,000 in 2021, according to a Lumikai report.
While BGMI has seen considerable success after its relaunch in India, Garena’s ‘Free Fire India’ version is also expected to cash-in on the country’s growing online gaming industry, which is expected to reach a market size of $8.6 Bn by FY27.
Besides BGMI, Free Fire India will compete against the Made-in-India battle royale title Indus, which is being developed by Pune-based game development startup SuperGaming.
The post Garena Postpones Launch Of Free Fire India By A Few Weeks appeared first on Inc42 Media.
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The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has reportedly made changes to its incentive scheme to grant greater flexibility to buyer-side apps for providing discounts to consumers.
The changes also include reducing food category subsidies by 50% and expanding merchant density in 45 non-metro districts.
The notice about the fifth version of the incentive scheme was sent to network participants (NPs) on September 4, and it will come into effect from today, Moneycontrol reported.
Among the new changes, ONDC has increased the maximum amount that buyer-side apps can claim per week to INR 40 Lakh from INR 25 Lakh. It has also removed monitoring of discounts for specific orders.
Meanwhile, it has also made changes in discounts offered for some categories. While the average incentive has been reduced to INR 50 per order for orders exceeding INR 200 in the food and beverage (F&B) category, it has been kept unchanged at INR 100 for orders of above INR 200 for grocery and beauty products category, the report said.
Incentive has also been kept unchanged for electronics orders between INR 200 and INR 1,000.
In the previous version of the scheme, there was no distinction made based on product categories for the maximum incentive per order, with a uniform rate of INR 100 being applied across all categories.
Since its launch in 2022, ONDC has been working on establishing open protocols for all aspects of digital commerce, allowing buyers and sellers to use any compatible application or platform to conduct transactions. It aims to break silos of multiple ecommerce platforms and unify them with a single, open network.
The platform has been growing from strength to strength. It counts names such as Magicpin, uEngage, Bitsila, EkSecond, Growth Falcons, Mystore, nStore, and eSamudaay among its network participants on the seller side, while those on the buyer side include Pyatm, Pincode, and Meesho.
ONDC has also been gradually expanding its presence across categories, including grocery delivery, mobility and fintech.
The post ONDC Revises Incentive Scheme To Offer Flexibility To Buyer Apps appeared first on Inc42 Media.
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B2B seafood startup Captain Fresh has raised $20 Mn in an extended Series C round led by Japan’s SBI Investments and Evolvence Capital.
The funding round also saw participation from Captain Fresh’s existing investors – Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Matrix Partners India, and Prosus Ventures.
The Bengaluru-based startup will utilse the fresh capital to expand its operations in the European and the US markets.
Captain Fresh also announced the appointment of Basola Valles as the CEO for the European market.
Commenting on expansion plans for Europe, Valles said, “We aim to reduce turnaround times, invest in product innovation, and deliver on transparency and traceability needs. We will initially focus on selected European countries in partnership with local players.”
The funding round comes almost over a year after Inc42 reported that the startup raised $7.3 Mn from Evolvence Group as a part of its extended Series C round.
Captain Fresh last announced raising $50 Mn in March 2022 to foray into Africa and Middle East. This funding round was led by Prosus Ventures and Tiger Global. Accel India, Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital, and Incubate Fund also participated in the round.
Founded in 2019 by Utham Gowda, Captain Fresh is a farm-to-retail platform for animal protein – fish, seafood and sheep. It procures directly from agents and farmers and supplies across B2B, B2R and B2B2C channels.
The startup indirectly competes against the likes of FreshtoHome, Licious, and Good To Go-acquired Tendercuts.
The post Captain Fresh Raises $20 Mn To Expand Operations In Europe, US appeared first on Inc42 Media.
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