By Allison Watkinson
TLL Reporter
China’s regulatory agency for video game licensing has approved new games for import for the first time in 18 months.
During the month of December 2022, a total of 44 new video games have been approved for import. In addition, 84 games by domestic developers were granted licensing approval by the government-run agency.
The NPPA is the Communist Party of China’s regulatory agency for the publication industry. Beginning in July 2021, the agency suspended all approvals for the publication of new video games.
The ban on video game license approvals was lifted for domestic games in April after a complete eight-month freeze on publication. However, the freeze on imported video game licenses continued until this recent batch of 44 licenses last month.
According to Chinese law, all gaming companies are required to obtain a license from the NPPA before they are allowed to publish games on consoles, mobile devices, and PCs in the region. In addition, games made in other countries are edited and censored by a Chinese organization before they become available to the country’s citizens.
The newly-approved imported video games include titles such as Valorant by Riot Games, Pokemon Unite by Nintendo, Don’t Starve by Klei Entertainment, and more.
Although this is a good sign for the video game licensing industry in China, industry analysts say it is too early to know for sure what the future holds for video game licensing in the country.