Garena Free Fire Hits 1 Billion Downloads on Google Play

Garena celebrates as their action game Garena Free Fire hits 1 billion downloads on the Google Play Store, according to its LinkedIn post. This milestone was reached just before the Garena Free Fire’s fourth anniversary coming in August.

This makes Garena Free Fire the first battle royale to reach 1 billion downloads. In 2020, it was the most downloaded mobile game according to App Annie. Furthermore, Sea Limited reported that Garena Free Fire had a record-breaking 100+ million peak daily active users in August of 2020. According to the report, Free Fire is also showing astounding numbers in esports, as it accumulated 120 million online viewers in 2020.

As Garena Free Fire hits 1 billion downloads, Garena plans to hold a special event on its fourth anniversary to celebrate both occasions.

The Battle Royale That Stands Out

The gameplay of Garena Free Fire is similar to many other battle royales like PUBG Mobile and Fortnite. The aim of the player is to be the last one standing by defeating other players and staying inside the safe zone. Unlike other battle royale games, it cut down on the number of players, from 100 to 50. This makes the matches faster and more accessible to players on the go.

One of the reasons for the game’s popularity is also that it is not as demanding on mobile as competitor titles. Garena Free Fire requires only 1GB RAM to run and supports older versions of Android. This opens it up to a wider range of users who may not be using flagship phones but opted for budget-friendly models.

Garena has been working on bringing other IPs into the game. Most recently, they have added characters from the Street Fighter franchise, Chun Li and Ryu, as playable heroes. The game also features characters from Attack on Titan and One-Punch Man.

Marketing is another big part of Garena’s strategy. They worked with celebrities like Cristiano Ronaldo and companies like McLaren to promote the game. Free Fire also featured an in-game-themed event based on Netflix’s La Casa de Papel. 

History of Garena

Garena started in 2009 as a platform that allowed players to group up and play games together. It was one of the few ways for people playing Age of Empires and Warcraft 3 to connect in Asia, which made it extremely popular.

From there, they also started publishing games for the Asian market. One of their major partnerships is with Riot Games, as Garena’s client is used to download League of Legends. Garena was also instrumental in bringing players to another MOBA it published, Heroes of Newerth.

Other games Garena published in the South East Asia region include Fifa Online 4, Call of Duty: Mobile, Ring of Elysium, Blade & Soul, and many others.

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