China approves 105 video games, but Christmas miracle does not revive stocks after suggested spending curbs

Beijing’s December batch of game approvals is the most since July 2022, in a positive signal to the industry after draft rules tightening user spending

The regulation opened for public comment on Friday sent gaming stocks plummeting, which continued on the mainland while the Hong Kong bourse was closed Monday

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Tencent’s Game for Peace, its mainland China version of PUBG Mobile, seen on a smartphone in this illustration picture taken May 13, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:30pm, 25 Dec 2023Updated: 3:16pm, 25 Dec 2023

China has approved 105 video games for sale in China for December, the most in 17 months, in a another positive signal to a market roiled by a draft regulation last week that aims to rein in spending on online games.

The latest batch of approvals, released by the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) on Monday, marked the first time Beijing had approved more than 100 titles in its monthly list since July 2022, when 135 titles made the cut. On Friday, the regulator also approved 98 imported titles.

The move “strongly demonstrates authorities’ clearly supportive stance on the development of online games”, said the semi-official trade body Game Publishing Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association (CADPA), in an article published on Monday to its official WeChat account.

Among the newly approved games are Tencent Holdings’ Assault Fire: Future, and two from NetEase – Lost Light and Sifangyuzhishi.

The new list brings the tally of approved titles this year to 1,076, a drastic improvement for an industry beset by uncertainty following a sweeping crackdown two years ago. Licence approvals were frozen for the eight months from August 2021 through March 2022, resulting in just 748 titles being approved in 2021 and 512 in 2022.

CADPA said it hoped members, including giants Tencent and NetEase, would “make an effort to roll out more quality content and promote the high-quality development of the online game industry”.

The approvals are the second positive signal to the video game industry in three days, after the NPPA sought on Saturday to ease concerns about its new draft rules unveiled the previous day that sent stocks plummeting. The regulator said it would “revise and improve” the rules after “carefully studying and listening to the opinions of relevant departments, enterprises, users and other parties”.