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China has approved 136 games in January including Tencent’s Honor of Kings: World, an open-world action RPG spin-off of the popular Honor of Kings.
As reported by the South China Morning Post, this is China’s first batch of licensed video games in 2025 by the country’s National Press and Publication Administration, which licences video games.
China’s latest game approvals include 123 domestic titles and 13 foreign games, such as Frostpunk: Beyond the Ice, a mobile adaptation of 11 Bit Studios’ PC game to be operated by NetEase.
Over 1,400 games were approved in 2024, the highest since 2019, with January 2025 marking a record for monthly domestic approvals. This comes as China’s gaming market recovers steadily after regulatory controls eased following an eight-month freeze on new approvals in 2021.
A new Honor game
Though a release date for Honor of Kings: World remains unclear, Apple showcased a gameplay demo during the iPhone 16 launch, confirming it will debut on the iPhone in 2025.
Players have high expectations for the upcoming title as Tencent aims to combine “cutting-edge graphics” with storytelling inspired by Honor of Kings, which was last month’s top-grossing mobile game on Apple’s China App Store, per Sensor Tower data.
The new approval will see Honor of Kings: World release on both mobile and PC platforms later this year.
