ByteDance, Alibaba and Bilibili titles among 86 new game licences approved by China regulator in April
- The batch of new licences is another sign that market is set for recovery after year-long crackdown
- The latest batch of approvals includes Earth: Revival, a survival game developed by ByteDance’s gaming subsidiary Nuverse
Beijing approved 86 new games in April, including titles by internet giants ByteDance, Alibaba Group Holding and Bilibili, as the world’s largest video gaming market continues to recover from a long winter.
The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the agency responsible for licensing video games in China, published its latest list of approvals on Thursday.
The figure of 86 is roughly the same as the number of new licences given out in each of the first three months of 2023, in another signal of brighter times ahead after a year-long regulatory crackdown.
The latest batch of approved titles includes: Earth: Revival, a survival game developed by ByteDance’s gaming subsidiary Nuverse; Re: Aethalis, a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that will be operated by Shanghai-based video streaming platform Bilibili; as well as Sen Zhi Guo Du, a game developed by Lingxi Games, Alibaba’s mobile gaming subsidiary. Alibaba owns the Post.
China approves 27 overseas video games in a sign of regulatory easing
Guangzhou-based Lingxi Games has achieved success with its overseas expansion. It ranked fourth among Chinese companies for global mobile gaming revenue last month, behind Tencent Holdings, NetEase and miHoYo, according to data from US app analytics firm Sensor Tower.
This largely reflects the success of Three Kingdom Tactics, a strategy mobile game launched in 2019. There is little information about its newly-approved title, including whether it has an English name yet.
Nuverse, which aims to create “hardcore” games that can generate steady revenue for the social media giant, laid off hundreds of employees from two studios in Shanghai and Hangzhou last year amid the industry’s regulatory pressure.
Late last year Bilibili doubled down on its gaming business, which once accounted for over 80 per cent of its total revenue before being eclipsed by video streaming. Chen Rui, chief executive of Bilibili, took over direct management of the video gaming unit last November.
Spring arrives for China’s video gaming market as crackdown eases
Another approved title is Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, a mobile MOBA game developed by Shanghai-based Moonton Technology, which was acquired by ByteDance in 2021. The game, launched outside China in 2016, has become a hit in the Southeast Asia market. It ranked as the eighth-most-lucrative title among domestically-developed mobile games in the market outside China, according to the latest data released by Sensor Tower.
The game also became the top grossing MOBA game in Asia as of January 2020, surpassing Tencent’s blockbuster Honour of Kings, with 61 per cent of its total revenue coming from Southeast Asia.
Analysts are turning more positive on the video gaming market in China as the number of titles approved increases and amid signs that Beijing is now done with tightening content and play time rules for minors. Tencent, NetEase and miHoYo have started to test and launch at least a dozen mobile and PC titles in recent months.
