Tencent and NetEase absent from 67 new video game approvals in China, as ByteDance and Bilibili emerge as big winners
- China’s two largest gaming companies have not been granted licences for new video game titles in a year, even as approvals resume one-month cadence
- TikTok owner ByteDance, which has been retreating in gaming in recent months, and video streaming platform Bilibili received approval for new titles

China’s publication regulator granted licences to 67 video games on Tuesday in its third and biggest approval of new titles for smartphones, personal computers and consoles in mainland China since the end of an eight-month hiatus.
Tencent’s shares have slumped 26.8 per cent in Hong Kong since the end of last July, when the last list was released before a licensing freeze that only ended in April. NetEase’s shares have fallen 10.7 per cent in the same period.
The list is a slight uptick in approvals from last month, when the agency approved 60 new titles for sale in China, marking a slow recovery for China’s game developers. In April, the list included just 45 titles.
However, the new list offers some good news for the company on the gaming front. ByteDance, which runs its gaming business under the in-house brand Nuverse, won a licence for the mobile title Crystal of Atlan.