The Chinese state has set up a new ‘Online Games Ethics Committee’ to test new video games. Games released in China must fit in with the country’s ‘social morality’. None have been approved for release in China since March.
The South China Morning Post announced the news on Friday. Of the first 20 games reviewed by the committee, 9 have been disapproved and the remaining 11 have received requests for modification. It is unknown which games these are.
According to the paper, China has put a stop to new games since March over concerns about internet addiction, myopia in children and generally “inappropriate content.” The latter entails that references to violence and sex are out of the question, as recently proved in Rainbow Six: Siege. The approval of new games was also further delayed by government restructuring.
According to the paper, the video game market in the country is worth $38 billion, which has been both a motivator for the government to rigorously regulate the industry and a factor in why Chinese game developers and publishers are not benefiting greatly from it. the situation. Growth in the sector has not been this slow in ten years. According to a source from The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese game companies have lost 200 million dollars a month in turnover due to this ‘drought’.
Changes to Rainbow Six: Siege as an attempt to enter the Chinese market