China has banned games with English words and virtual marriages
A new tightening of requirements for games in China. The Latin alphabet, virtual marriages and a whole genre of “harem games” were banned.
Almost a year ago App2Top.ru He published a list of the main and unspoken requirements for games to be published in China. It was released in March 2019 and even then included, for example, a ban on blood of any color and in any quantity. These rules are relevant for both local and foreign titles.
Analysts at Niko Partners in their new report noted some previously undetected bans.
Ban on English
Absolutely all the inscriptions in the game must be done in simplified Chinese.
“We have seen cases,” analysts write, “when the game was rejected (by the regulator) because of the words “WINNER” (“winner”) or “Attack” (“attack”) in English.”
Ban on virtual marriages
This ban is intended to protect minors.
According to the regulator of the Celestial Empire, children should not have the opportunity to get married. Note that marriage is a very popular mechanic, for example, in Chinese MMORPGs like Perfect World.
Ban on games about life in the harem
Technically, this prohibition refers to unspoken requirements.
But, according to the assurances of Niko Partners, it is observed as strictly as the official prohibitions.
Recall: if the State Administration of China for Press and Publications (SAPP) finds violations three times and rejects the game, it will no longer be accepted for consideration.
Analysts also recalled the limitation of the number of games approved each year. According to the publisher JoyPac, China can license a maximum of 5,000 games annually. You can read more about how to make a licensing application correctly here.
Meanwhile, PCGamesN reports that in 2019, the regulator approved 1,570 games for release in China. Only 12% of them were created abroad. And a total of 108 are not mobile games (for example, only 23 games for consoles were published).
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