China is finally approving new videogames again

China’s freeze on new game approvals is finally set to end, nine months after it began. A new regulatory board was established earlier this month - the Online Games Ethics Committee - which led to speculation that game licensing would soon begin again. Now it has, and the financial market around the Chinese game industry is already showing results. Today, Tencent shares closed 4.5% higher and Perfect World shares closed 6.7% higher, as the South China Morning Post reports. Despite the freeze, the Chinese game industry saw 5% growth this year, but that’s the smallest increase in close to a decade. Growth has been in double digit numbers since 2009. “The first batch of games have been reviewed. We will hurry up to issue licenses,” says Feng Shixin, head of the State Administration of Press and Publications. “There is a big stockpile of games for review, so it takes a while. We will continue to work hard.” The committee had reviewed 20 games when we learned of its existence, rejecting nine titles and recommending content modifications for 11 others.

from PCGamesN http://bit.ly/2QLwt06