Garena has finally ended speculation regarding India’s and the CIS region’s participation in the Free Fire World Series (FFWS) Sentosa. In a press release today, the developer revealed the updated slots distribution for the FFWS, and both regions are no longer there.
The top two teams from India and CIS were supposed to qualify for the FFWS through regional competitions, namely the Free Fire India Championship Spring and the Free Fire Pro League CIS Season 4. The winner of these competitions was supposed to qualify for the FFWS Finals while the runners-up were to compete in the play-ins. Both of these tournaments weren’t able to be held as per schedule, however, which means fans won’t get to see Indian and CIS teams in the FFWS.
The Free Fire India Championship was put on hold after the game was banned in the South Asian country due to alleged data privacy concerns last February. The Free Fire Pro League CIS, on the other hand, was canceled due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Garena isn’t giving the Indian and CIS spots to other regions. In the updated slots distribution for the FFWS, only 10 teams will compete in the play-ins—down from 12. The top four teams from here will proceed to the FFWS Finals. Earlier, only two teams were supposed to advance from the play-ins, but this has been increased to four to replace the empty slots from the CIS and India regions.
The play-ins for the FFWS will take place on May 14 followed by the finals on May 21. A huge prize pool of $2 million will be up for grabs in the competition.