China Has Approved The First New Video Games in The Country in Almost a Year

Reuters have reported that the Chinese Government has approved 45 new video games for publishing in China.

This will be the first round of new video game approvals in the country in almost a year since July of 2021.

The games that have been approved come from lesser-known Chinese developers and Publishers such as XD Inc. (Girls Frontline, Sausage Man) as well as Baidu Games, iDreamSky, 37Games, Shenzhen Zqgame, and Yoozoo Games.

Here comes the full list of games approved. A total of 45. No Tencent nor NetEase. pic.twitter.com/CSizPaoreR

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— Josh Ye (@TheRealJoshYe) April 11, 2022

Chinese gaming tech giants, Tencent and Netease do not appear on the list however video game analyst Daniel Ahmad says that this is not noteworthy as “even in prior batches, prior to the freezes, there have been times where major companies weren’t on the list.”

In order for video games to be sold in China, publishers must get an approved license from the Chinese Ministry of Culture. In July 2021, China put licensing for new video games on hold indefinitely in order to impose a number of new regulations around gaming.

These included setting a limited amount of gaming time for minors to combat video game addiction and a crackdown on games that promote a “wrong set of values,” like depicting same-sex relationships and effeminate men.

Despite the majority saying they’ll adhere to the new laws, the inability to get games published has been deeply harmful to many game developers. Securities Daily reported that by the end of 2021, 300,000 game companies had reportedly less than 10 million yuan in earnings, with more than 14,000 companies closing doors for good.

Larger Chinese companies have attempted to circumvent these policies by opening officers overseas and focusing more on the international market. A good example of this is Netease, who last year acquired Japanese developer Grasshopper Manufacture (No More Heroes, Killer 7) and is rumored to be acquiring French developer Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain, Detroit Become Human).