Garena, the game developer and publisher of Free Fire, has officially marked its return to India’s mobile esports landscape with the announcement of the Free Fire Max India Cup 2025, its first major tournament since the game’s three-year ban. Running from 13 July to 28 September, the tournament features a Rs 1 crore prize pool and aims to re-establish Free Fire’s competitive footprint across the country.
According to Sensor Tower’s India Mobile Gaming Insights Report, the country’s revenue landscape is largely driven by core games, with battle royale titles such as Garena Free Fire and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) among the leading performers.
“More options for Indian gamers and esports athletes are always a good thing. Switching between games is harder than most realise, but what’s clear is that Free Fire has a loyal audience, just as BGMI does. Both games offer very different experiences, and that diversity is a strength for the ecosystem,” said Nodwin Gaming co-founder and managing director Akshat Rathee.
“The fact that the game is optimised for low-end devices means millions of new players can enter the competitive scene without high-end hardware, and that’s critical for a market like India. From a game development and ecosystem standpoint, it also signals to developers that the battle royale genre continues to have a strong demand curve here. With more tournaments, more creators, and more publisher investment, this is the kind of momentum that inspires innovation not just in games, but in supporting tools, platforms, and technologies built around them,” commented Dirtcube Interactive co-founder & tech lead Mikhail Bhuta.
Dirtcube Interactive recently launched Specter, India’s first-of-its-kind backend platform designed to revolutionise the gaming ecosystem.
For Garena, the Free Fire Max India Cup represents a renewed focus on one of the world’s largest and youngest gaming markets.
