Chinese Government Launches Sinocentric Game Licensing Regulations, Developer Rejects

Control over gaming licenses makes China's grip on cyberspace even stronger. (Wikimedia Commons/Prácticas Intraescolares)

JAKARTA - The Chinese government has introduced a new licensing system for domestic and international gaming companies. A potentially troublesome system, because it has to incorporate communist ideology and contribute to promoting Chinese culture.

Apart from ideological reasons and cultural promotion, the application of this new license rule can be seen economically as an effort to protect the domestic game industry from the invasion of foreign games.

"We will not be able to get a license to sell again this year. It looks like the Chinese government has said it will implement a new system as a weapon to protect its domestic gaming industry," said a source, as reported by Koreatimes.

According to a weekly report by the Korean Creative Content Agency (KCCI), Tuesday 4 May, the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee through its new regulations imposed five criteria, in which the game will be graded from 0 to 5, including ideology, cultural meaning, originality, quality, and level of development.

A game requires an average of three points across all categories for a license and if it receives zero in any individual category it will be automatically excluded.

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/NeocoreGames)

The Propaganda Department said the new system aims to provide specific guidelines that will help gaming companies promote the cultural meaning and political ideals of China in their play.

However, local companies argue Beijing is using play to bolster its arguments over claims that some Korean cultural icons, hanbok, and kimchi, originated in China.

Recently, a Chinese game featured Korean pop star IU wearing a traditional costume from the Qing Dynasty, which looks almost identical to hanbok, the traditional Korean dress.

Last November, another Chinese game 'Shining Nikki' also launched hanbok items for its game characters, to celebrate the launch of its service in Korea, leading Chinese users to suspect that hanbok came from their own culture.

Paper Games, the operator of 'Shining Nikki' announced that they were shutting down servers in South Korea the following month, due to the controversy arising from the launch of this hanbok item.

"Such controversy has led the Chinese government to take action. This new regulation means it will not import any games that oppose Sinocentrism," said an industry source.

"We expect something from China, but this is ridiculous. As if we have to make a game for China," he added.

To note, for the last four years, the Chinese government has been very strict in approving sales licenses for South Korean games. The Korean government's approval of the deployment of America's THAAD anti-missile system in Seoul in 2017 sparked economic revenge by Beijing. Only one Korean game 'Summoners War: Sky Arena' by Com2us has been licensed for release in China since then.