China issues 60 new video game licenses, none for Tencent or NetEase

Persons perform on line video games on personal computers at an online cafe in Beijing, China August 31, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo

HONG KONG, June 7 (Reuters) – China’s gaming regulator on Tuesday granted publishing licenses to 60 online games, in a transfer probably to provide reduction to a sector bruised by a regulatory crackdown and a prolonged suspension of gaming approvals.

The Nationwide Push and Public Administration (NPPA) published the June record on its web page on Tuesday, which included titles belonging to builders these kinds of as Excellent Entire world (002624.SZ) and Mihoyo.

Other titles involved generally lesser-finances games this kind of as Jurassic Army by Shanghai Eyugame and Kittens’ Courtyard by Beijing Object On the internet Know-how.

The record, having said that, did not incorporate titles belonging to the industry’s most important players, these types of as Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) and NetEase (9999.HK). Even now, Tencent’s American Depository Receipts obtained more than 1.54% following the news. NetEase also noticed shares increase nearly 1.35% in pre-industry trading in New York.

It also did not include things like any foreign titles, extending the dry spell for imported video online games to 12 months.

The June checklist will come in excess of a month right after the very last batch of licenses was announced on April 30. The NPPA did not publish a listing in Could, and has not given a rationale why.

Prior to April, Chinese regulators stopped approving game monetisation licenses for nearly eight months, closely impacting Tencent and NetEase and putting hundreds of companies in the industry out of enterprise.

That pause coincided with a shift by China in August to impose new gaming time restrictions on less than-18s, an intervention it stated was required to pull the plug on a rising dependancy to what state media the moment explained as “religious opium”.

Reporting by Josh Ye, Meg Shen and Twinnie Siu
Enhancing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter

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