China approves 87 new video games, including Ubisoft spin-off from Tom Clancy’s The Division franchise, as local market recovery continues

The new batch of licensed games brings this year’s total so far to 873, up from 512 in 2022 and 755 in 2021

Tencent-backed Ubisoft, NetEase, Perfect World, Lilith Games and Hypergryph lead list of major video game publishers with approved titles in November

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The latest batch of licensed game titles in mainland China, the video gaming industry’s largest market, has brought this year’s total so far to 873, according to data from regulator the National Press and Publication Administration. Photo: Shutterstock

Ann Caoin Shanghai

Published: 9:30pm, 5 Dec 2023

China approved 87 new video game titles in November including the local version of Tencent Holdings-backed Ubisoft Entertainment’s The Division Resurgence – a mobile third-person shooter based on the French publisher’s flagship franchise, Tom Clancy’s The Division – as the domestic market continues to recover after Beijing eased its regulatory crackdown.

The latest batch of licensed games for the mainland, the video gaming industry’s largest market, has brought this year’s total so far to 873, according to the list released on Monday by regulator the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA). By comparison, there were 512 titles approved in 2022 and 755 in 2021.

Other major Chinese video game developers and publishers that have licensed titles on the latest NPPA list include NetEase, Perfect World, Lilith Games and HyperGryph.

Under Chinese regulation, every video game must go through a licensing process before it is made available for public consumption, adding some uncertainty for gaming publishers operating in the mainland market. The NPPA typically publishes its batch of approved titles before the end of each month, but the regulator delayed the release of its November list without explanation.

Ubisoft Entertainment’s new mobile multiplayer third-person shooter game, The Division Resurgence, is set for a global release in 2024. Photo: Ubisoft

The increase in the number of game titles approved this year shows that the domestic market appears to have turned a corner, despite economic headwinds and other underlying risks that prompted TikTok owner ByteDance to cut hundreds of jobs in its video gaming business.

Mainland China’s overall video game software and services revenue this year will reach US$47.76 billion, up 5.2 per cent from 2022, according to a revised forecast published in November by research firm Niko Partners. That increase comes after a 2.5 per cent year-on-year decline in 2022.

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