The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) of the PRC, the regulatory body governing China’s video games market, announced publishing licenses (ISBN) for 43 imported (foreign) games on June 28, 2021. All games to be published in mainland China must first be granted an ISBN. The June 28 batch is a relief to many foreign game developers, as the previous batch of import titles had been on February 21, [...]

The Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee is piloting a new aspect of game licensing to add a Game Evaluation and Rating Guidelines system. The pilot system was announced March 15th and launched April 1, 2021. The new Game Evaluation and Rating Guidelines system is an addition to the existing process, which all games go through [...]

China is the largest video game market in the world with over 720 million players and nearly $40 billion in revenue during 2020. Entering China is often seen as a daunting task for developers, due to the opaque regulatory landscape, yet some of the top games in China today are from developers outside the country including [...]

Apple has confirmed that it will require game developers to have a valid ISBN (publishing license number) by June 30, 2020 for all paid games or games that have in-app purchases (IAP) so they can be legally distributed via the China App Store. Games that do not register an ISBN with Apple before this date will [...]

In February 2020 we published Game regulations in China: everything you need to know as a comprehensive resource for our readers. With the majority of new regulations in place, our observation now is that China’s SAPP has shifted to enforcement, including potentially closing loopholes that have been around for years. We base our analysis on recent game [...]

China’s regulators announced 2020’s first batch of imported games licenses on March 12, the first since November 25, 2019. In 2019 there were also no imported games licenses in January or February, however this could be purely coincidental. This batch has 27 titles, including 16 mobile games, 6 PC games and 5 console games, please see [...]

A dramatic overhaul to the regulation and licensing of digital games took place in China from March 2018-April 2019. The State Administration of Press and Publications (SAPP), formed in 2018, introduced a new approval process for digital games on April 22, 2019, including new application forms for publishers to access online. The SAPP had to work [...]

Chinese lawmakers are considering a draft revision to the current Minor Protection Law that will strengthen the protection of minors both online and in the real world. The draft contains two new chapters on ‘Network Protection’ and ‘Government Protection’ and increases the number of items covered from 72 to 130. The Minor Protection Law was first [...]