Mainland Chinese authorities provided in the first quarter of this year license required for release 288 games, including 27 foreign ones.. This is reported by the analytical website Niko Partners, and from the figures it concludes that in 2023 we will see an increase in the number of licenses issued for the first time in four years. A return to earlier standards could come after the Chinese government severely restricted gambling in the country.
Niko estimates that this year the number of licenses could exceed 1100. In 2018, there were more than 2,100 of them, last year there were only 512, of which 44 were for foreign games. This year their number already exceeds half of last year. All of last year’s foreign games were licensed by China in December. The March batch can be supplemented by two or three more similar ones this year.
The license has seen big titles like valiant, Division 2 or Lost Ark, but also a number of mobile games such as Pokemon Unite, Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds and Cookie Run: Kingdom. Then Age of Empires Mobile or Metal Slug: Awakening got an internal license thanks to Chinese partners. Niko believes that the Chinese market will return to normal with the relicensing.
Due to disagreements with publisher NetEase, he pulled out of China at the end of January. Blizzard and closed all his online games there, except for the mobile Diablo Immortal. It can be expected that he will look for a way to return to the profitable market.
Source : Zing
