For the first time since August 2021, China’s gaming regulator has approved publishing licenses for 45 international games. In China it will finally be possible to play video games such as Pokemon Unite, Don’t Starve and Valorant.
In addition to the 45 games from “foreign” companies, 84 video games developed by Chinese companies (such as Tencent and NetEase) were also approved.
After the tightening, China is slowly opening up to video games
Emblematic is the case of Valorant, one of the most popular shooter games in the world. Riot Games’ title was released in the West in 2020, but had to wait almost three years before arriving in China. Only 76 games have been approved in 2021, definitely less than the 129 this December. Reuters calls this surge in licensing “an important signal towards normalizing policies for the sector”.
In fact, we recall that in China, in recent years, there has been a real squeeze on video games, considered to be a cause of addiction. The Chinese government had come to introduce some laws to limit the time you use gaming consoles.
Currently games such as are still banned in China Elden Ring. Just broadcasting the game stream is also illegal. Even seemingly innocent titles, such as Animal Crossing: New Horizonshave come under fire from authorities after being used by Hong Kong protesters.
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