The first quarter of 2023 has been positive for China video game approvals and Niko Partners expects total game licenses for the full year to surpass 1,100, returning to a level last seen in 2020. The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the government regulator responsible for issuing game licenses (ISBNs) approved 288 games in Q1 [...]
Three years ago, in early 2020, Wuhan announced the closure of the city due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Three months into my family’s confinement as residents of Wuhan I wrote “A personal account of gaming and life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak” to share my story about gaming during the initial Wuhan lockdown with Niko’s [...]
September 2022 marks the one-year anniversary of one of China’s strongest youth gamer protection regulations put in place by the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA). The regulations restricted playing online video games to 8-9pm Friday, Saturday, Sunday and legal holidays, for a total of 3 hours per week only in that time slot, for all [...]
The Indian government requested Apple and Google to remove Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) from their app stores on July 28th, one year after it launched in the country. Our research shows that the popular battle royale game, published by South Korean firm Krafton, is no longer available for download. The request comes in the wake of [...]
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of the Republic of Indonesia (Kominfo) had issued regulation no. 5 of 2020 on Penyelenggara Sistem Elektronik Swasta (PSE) or Private Electronic System Providers. The regulation is imposed to local as well as foreign tech enterprises operating in Indonesia, which include game companies, who are (1) providing services within [...]
The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the regulatory body governing China’s video game licensing, issued 60 licenses (ISBNs) on June 5, 2022 (Published publicly on June 7). This is the second batch of games to be issued a license after a 263-day long freeze on game approvals which ended in April 2022. This batch, as [...]
China’s National Radio and Television Administration issued a notice on April 12, 2022 (Published April 15), called “Strengthening the Management of Game Live Streaming on Online Audio-Visual Platforms”. The notice states that game live streaming platforms, short video platforms and other types of audio-visual platforms are prohibited from broadcasting video games without having obtained a license [...]
The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the regulatory body governing China’s video game licensing, announced a batch of new licenses, called ISBNs, for 45 domestic games on April 11, 2022. Companies pursuing China’s games market have waited 263 long days since the last batch of ISBNs, which was July 22, 2021. The news of the [...]
The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the Chinese government regulator for video games, issued a new rule today that emphasizes the restriction of how much time youth gamers are allowed to play. The new rule states that people under 18 years old will be allowed to play online video games only on Friday, Saturday, Sunday [...]
Despite China’s regulatory crackdown on tech companies, Lisa Hanson of Niko Partners says “Tencent’s silent global quest for gaming domination” continues as it invests in an increasing number of domestic and international gaming companies.
