Garena Free Fire, the popular free-to-play mobile battle royale game, is overhauling its popular Bomb Squad mode. The mode eschews the game's typical battle royale gameplay and focuses on a smaller group of players on a smaller map as they attempt to protect or diffuse a bomb. In this way it feels a little closer to Counter-Strike.

In tandem with the mode's release, we spoke with the game's producer, Harold Teo, over email about what makes the updated mode different from the previous version, whether this is the future trajectory for the game, and why Garena Free Fire isn't often in the battle royale discussion despite boasting comparable and often better player numbers than games like Fortnite and PUBG Battlegrounds.

GameSpot: What makes this updated Bomb Squad mode different?