China video gaming crackdown: no licence issued in October deals another blow to struggling industry
- The absence of new approvals comes after the government issued more than 300 licences between April and September
- The world’s largest video gaming market has seen sales plunge amid a slowing economy and tightened restrictions
China issued no new video game licence in October, breaking a string of approvals since June and sending chills through an industry grappling with a market downturn and continuous government scrutiny.
The pause by the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the agency responsible for licensing video games in China, went against the beliefs of many analysts and industry insiders, who thought the approval process had returned to normal after an eight-month licensing freeze ended in April.
That month, the NPPA licensed 45 new games. While no licence was approved in May, analysts widely considered it an operational delay stemming from a Covid-19 outbreak in Beijing, rather than a new policy signal.
The agency went on to give out 269 more licences from June to September.
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The absence of new approvals in October, however, was unexpected.