It’s safe to say the end of China’s games license freeze is securely over, with a second collection of titles approved by the National Press and Publication Administration on June 7 2022. This follows the approval of 45 titles in April this year.
In total, 60 games have been approved – 58 of which are explicitly mobile games, with one browser title and one “client game” (according to Google Translate).
All 60 titles are being developed and published internally and include developers such as Perfect World and Modo Technology. Tellingly, as noted by Lemuria CEO and games industry veteran Monte Singman on LinkedIn, none of the titles have any involvement from Tencent or NetEase.
The freeze was initiated in July 2021 alongside other regulation aimed at reducing the amount of time under-18s spent playing games – described as “spiritual opium” – such as a three-hour weekly limit that was ardently .
The latest approvals align with a sentiment of regulatory reversal from China, although it comes following revenue stagnation of Tencent Holdings and other tech firms in the country, which has been widely attributed to China’s previous strongarm tactics.
