To launch the game in the Chinese App Store, you will now need to obtain a license
China is tightening the nuts. Now the release and operation of the game in the Chinese App Store requires the permission of the State Administration for Press and Publications (SAPP).
If the game does not have the ratification number (ISBN) received from the regulator, Apple will not allow it to be published. The rule applies to all paid gaming applications, as well as those in which it is possible to make micropayments.
The innovation became known from a publication in the Chinese WeChat-public edition of the Sikong. The article reports that Apple has already “added a new item to the Review Guidelines list.” According to the rule: “If the developer plans to release the game by June 30, he must specify the ISBN in the application.”
Formally, the ban on the sale and operation of games without a ratification number has been in effect in China since July 2016. It was adopted a month earlier by the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT).
However, for a long time the ban applied only to local Android platforms. Without an ISBN, they did not host either paid games or those whose monetization is based on micropayments.
As for the local App Store, it was a “gray area” in China, where it was possible to release games that did not receive permission from the regulator and earn money from them. This, among other things, allowed foreign companies that were not ready to register a legal entity in the country or work on a launch with an intermediary to enter the market unofficially.
It is not yet known what will happen to the annexes that were released before June 30, but do not have a ratification number. Based on Apple’s previous practice of introducing new requirements, we assume that the company simply will not allow the release of updates for such applications. But the scenario with their removal from the local market is not excluded.
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