Sea Limited was founded under the name Garena in Singapore in 2009 by Forrest Li, a graduate of Shanghai Jiaotong University and Stanford Graduate School of Business. Garena was originally intended to be a game development and publishing company, but later expanded to become a tech conglomerate which also offered financial services and e-commerce. Following a rebranding to Sea in 2017, the digital entertainment branch retained its name as Garena.
That same year, Free Fire launched as a battle royale multiplayer game and swiftly found international success. It was the most downloaded mobile game globally in 2019 and grew to become a significant stream of revenue for Garena.
In 2021, Garena released a graphically enhanced version, Free Fire Max. The two apps were the most downloaded shooter games in 2022 with over 100 million downloads each.
Free Fire has become one of the “Big 3” shooter mobile games along with PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty: Mobile following the removal of Fortnite from the App Store and Google Play in August 2020. This trio earns the majority of revenue in the genre.
At the beginning of 2022, India banned Free Fire and 53 other apps which were considered as a threat to the country’s security; Free Fire Max remained available on the Google Play store. Free Fire had been the second most downloaded app in the country, and had the highest consumer spend. While Sea is based in Singapore, its biggest shareholder is the Chinese social media company Tencent Holdings. Annual revenue for Free Fire and for Sea fell significantly in 2022, which has been partially attributed to the Indian ban.
Since 2019, Free Fire has also ran esports competitions, with its World Series becoming the most-watched esports event in history with 5.4 million live viewers in 2021. These regional events are available globally and offer multi-million dollar jackpots.
Free Fire has been accused by PUBG Mobile’s developer Krafton of copyright infringement, and in January 2022 the company filed a lawsuit against Garena citing similarities in game items, mechanics and look. Apple and Google are also included in the lawsuit, which has not yet been settled, for distributing the game.
We have collected data and statistics on Free Fire. Read below to find out more.
Free Fire Key Statistics
- Free Fire generated almost $408 million in 2024, a slight increase on the previous year
- The game was downloaded 284 million times last year
- Around 35 million people actively play Free Fire and Free Fire Max
Free Fire Overview
| Title | Title 2 |
|---|---|
| Launch date | December 2017 |
| HQ | Singapore |
| People | Forrest Li (Chairman, CEO), Terry Zhao (President) |
| Business type | Subsidiary |
| Owner | Sea Ltd |
| Industry | Mobile games |
Free Fire Revenue
Free Fire has struggled to generate similar amounts of revenue since the India ban, which happened in 2021.
Free Fire revenue 2018 to 2024 ($bn)
| Year | Revenue ($bn) |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 0.1 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2020 | 2.1 |
| 2021 | 1.2 |
| 2022 | 0.5 |
| 2023 | 0.3 |
| 2024 | 0.4 |
Source: AppMagic
Free Fire Users
Daily active users of Free Fire were around 35 million in 2023, much lower than its 150 million peak.
Free Fire active users 2019 to 2023 (mm)
| Year | Users (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 50 |
| 2020 | 80 |
| 2021 | 150 |
| 2022 | 41 |
| 2023 | 35 |
Sources: Company data, Fan Space
Free Fire Downloads
Downloads increased for Free Fire and Free Fire Max, reaching 284 million in 2024.
Free Fire downloads 2020 to 2024 (mm)
| Year | Downloads (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 450 |
| 2021 | 241 |
| 2022 | 227 |
| 2023 | 193 |
| 2024 | 284 |
Sources: AppMagic
Free Fire FAQ
How many times has the Free Fire app been installed?
In 2022, Free Fire was installed 109 million times.
How many game modes are available to play?
Free Fire offers over 15 game modes including Battle Royale, Clash Squad, Explosive Jump and Team Deathmatch.
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