Game licensing issues in China are still complicated. According to a new report, it has been more than 500 days without a foreign game being approved.
According to an official administrative page, the last time China’s National Press and Administration Administration (NPPA) approved a foreign game was on June 28, 2021. So has 509 days passed since then? have game products from other countries licensed in China.
Foreign games are restricted to the mainland.
There are 11 projects that are console games including Super Mario Party and Rayman: Legend. Most of them are mobile games like Diablo Immortal which is co-developed by Blizzard and NetEase is active. China has been steadily reducing the number of approved foreign games over the past few years. For example, the country’s regulator has licensed 456 foreign games in 2017, 180 games in 2019, 76 games in 2021, and zero games in 2022, a number that gradually declines as so.
No overseas video games may be distributed in China without a special license from the NPPA. Last year, the government halted the approval process. The freeze lasted 263 days, the longest since 2018. Although the NPPA has started licensing video games again, NetEast and Tencent have had to wait months to approve a new title. , not to mention foreign developers are still having a hard time doing this.
The slowdown in game licensing has also led to a new wave of restrictions on the game industry. This includes cutting minors’ playtime to just three hours per week and some suggested measures such as holding parents accountable. It is worth noting that most of the foreign game developers are in moderation. Chinese players can still play unlicensed PC games through the global version of Steam, which has not been officially banned in the country.
Steam China has a meager number of games.
Last year, China’s second-largest e-commerce platform JD.com stopped selling unapproved games like The Last of Us, Call of Duty and GTA. So even some of the biggest suppliers started to self-regulate for fear of government sanctions. There is also an official Chinese version of Steam but still only a few dozen games are allowed to be distributed.
This news comes after news of the expiration of Blizzard’s license contract with NetEase, which has been releasing its games in China since 2008. That’s why its operation World of Warcraft, Overwatch and the studio’s other titles will be temporarily shutting down on the mainland early next year. Blizzard will have to find a new partner to bring its games back. However, this will be difficult to do as the company must not only get support from a local issuer, but also go through the approval process again.
