In China, the issuance of licenses for the publication of games has been blocked since March 28

The Chinese gaming market is under attack. Due to administrative changes, the region was left without new games. The administration, which is responsible for issuing licenses for publishing games, has not issued them since the end of March.

What happened?

In March, the Chinese government dissolved the Administration for Press, Broadcasting, Cinematography and Television (SARFT). She was also responsible for issuing unique identification numbers to the games. Without these numbers, Chinese markets have not taken projects for publication for the last few years.

As a result of the reform, the press and cinema were transferred directly to the department of the propaganda department of the Communist Party of China. All other matters were entrusted to the newly formed Administration for Radio and Television Affairs — SART.

That’s just, apparently, due to the permutations, the process of issuing licenses for publishing games has not yet been restored. Since March 28, not a single game has received a number. All the games that were released on the territory of the Celestial Empire after March managed to get permission before the mentioned date.

By the way, there are unconfirmed rumors that the freeze may also be related to the discovery of pornographic content in approved games.

How has the ban affected the market?

In the first half of 2018, the Chinese gaming market earned $15 billion. This is only 5% more than in the same period last year. For the first time in nine years, the growth dynamics was less than 10%.

Growth dynamics of the Chinese gaming market
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, analyst Gao Baowen said that if the situation does not change, the Chinese market is waiting for an even greater drop in growth rates due to the lack of new titles on the market.

“Thousands of gaming applications are already awaiting approval. Considering that 700 to 800 titles receive permission per month, only current applications for approval will take 2-3 months. This means a shortage of projects in the summer, which will definitely hit the growth of the market,” Gao added.

How will this affect Western companies?

So far, this is an open question. We have no information about Western games released in China after March.

Ilya Gutov, business development director of the Chinese publishing house APPTUTTi, is sure that the problems of Chinese developers do not concern Western projects.

The fact is that the procedure for applying for an identification number for foreign and Chinese content is different.

And, according to Junxingbao, an accredited ISBN issuing agent, “application acceptance is closed for local games.” There is not a word about foreign ones.

At the same time, foreign companies cannot apply independently. A local publisher or distributor does it for them.

When will the situation with the Chinese games be resolved?

Experts are confident that the situation will become clearer in October. It was then, according to Gutova, changes in licensing of local products will be accepted.

The same is said by the Chinese partners of the company Nekki. As noted in an interview with App2Top.ru Nikita Korzhavin, the company’s business development director, is still waiting for the autumn Party Congress.

Sources: South China Morning Post, SupChinaCover photo:

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