Chinese Online Game Regulators Give Licenses For 27 Foreign Games

Illustration of playing games (photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), China's online game regulator on Monday, March 20, has licensed 27 foreign games, from well-known publishers including Tencent Holdings, NetEase, and Bilibili.

Among the imported online games approved by the National Press Administration and Publication at least one of Tencent's games, Merge Mansion, is already on the list.

In addition, NetEase also received approval for at least one mobile game entitled Audition: Everyone Party, while Bilibili received a license for the game titled Shakano! Youjunshaonu.

Thus, the license granted this time is the second batch of foreign online games provided by issuance in China. It only takes three months for regulators to approve the game, from the first batch in December.

The approval for these foreign games shows the Chinese government's efforts to soften its strict policy towards the online game industry which began in August 2021.

In addition, China has also stopped the approval process for foreign video games for 18 months between 2021 and 2022. In April 2022, regulators first continued issuing game licenses for local games.

XD Inc also received licenses for two mobile games each titled Gorogoa and Wizard of Legend. Another well-known title approved by China through this batch includes a mobile game called Fairy Tale: Fighting and a console game called Yo-kai Watch 4.

Bilibili was given the green light to distribute Uma Musume: Pretty Derby as part of this new batch. The total list consists of 22 mobile games, three PC games, one Switch game, and one dual platform game.

According to Technode, data from the NPPA shows that they issued 97, 76, and 44 foreign game licenses in the last three years, with 44 titles approved in 2022 coming in one batch in December.

Therefore, last Monday's move led some industry observers to predict that the issuance of foreign game licenses would be more regular this year.