China has dropped its first batch of the approved games for the year 2023 which includes HoYoverse’s RPG title Honkai: Star Rail. In the list approved by the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the office responsible to licence video games in China, a total of 88 titles found themself on the list. Big names including the industry leaders Tencent Holdings and NetEase were also among the ones who received licenses for their games.
China’s recent license approval is a massive boon to game publishers
Considering the number of titles that get approved on a yearly basis batch-wise in China, this time we saw a massive upgrade up to 88 titles being licensed. Unlike other countries, video games and their developers need license approval from regulators before releasing in China.
As per reports, Tencent’s three titles got approved, which include Undawn from its subsidiary company LightSpeed Studios, Alchemy Stars from another subsidiary Tourdog Studio and the third being Yuan Meng Zhi Xing in Chinese, where the details are unknown. NetEase also got its action shooter title Badlanders to get approved in China. The game already has been popular around the world since its release.
Chinese market slowly picking up pace
China has been slowly approving games in large numbers since 2022. It was a dire need after knowing how the gaming industry in the country was in a slump. After a long haul, most of the developers are now able to relax as they can expect more license approvals.
Back in July, they granted licenses to 67 new video games. In December 2022, China granted applications for 45 games from foreign regions which included games like Pokémon UNITE by Nintendo and Valorant by Riot Games along with 84 other domestic titles.
Being the world’s largest gaming market, China’s regulations were tough to digest for most of the gaming leaders. Beijing’s year-long crackdown on the industry impacted the revenues and dried out the gaming scene. But now, we see signs of improvement as we expect the worst may be over. Players wish to play more titles while new and innovative developers make their entries.
What are your thoughts on China listing the first batch of approved games in 2023? Do let us know in the comment section below!
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