New regulations concern small Chinese mobile games developers

Global Business

New regulations concern small Chinese mobile games developers1

Authorities in China have issued rules requiring developers to apply for approval before they launch or upgrade mobile games.

There are concerns that this will be a hindrance for domestic developers and result in smaller companies being washed out of the market.

CCTV’s Mi Jiayi has the story.

The State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film, and Television has announced that starting July 1, all mobile games must be pre-approved by the government at least 20 days before they’re released.

Although the approval process does not entail any fees itself, some agents online have already said they will charge 10,000 to 30,000 RMB ($1,642 to $4,478) to help game developers receive approval.

This is bad news for Zhang Fan and his friends, an independent Chinese game development team, because the new regulation at the least means more paper work for them and a longer waiting time before release.

Zhang’s team has been working games for a decade now. In the past, they never had to apply for an approval.

In 2015, only 370 mobile games applied for approval in China, while more than 25,000 new games were listed in both IOS and Android app stores. The vetting procedure started in 2009, but it was never made mandatory until now.

There are now also rules on what pictures and languages a game can or cannot use, but details are not available even though the rules come into effect in less than three weeks.


Eric Schiffer on China’s mobile games market

For more on how the new regulations could impact gaming developers in China, CCTV America’s Karina Huber spoke to Eric Schiffer, Tech Entrepreneur and CEO of The Patriarch Organization.