First import games approved by China in 2020

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 the details in the table below.

The 27 approved titles came from 11 countries, with Japan accounting for 13 titles (48%). This tracks in line with data from our recent report What’s Behind Japan’s #1 Share in China’s Games Market (the report is also available in Japanese) that identified Japan as the #1 country for China’s imported game titles. Finland was #2 country in this batch with 3 games, and UK #3 with 2 games. No US games were in this batch, a trend that is also covered in our import games report. Importantly, Lucy: The Eternity She Wished For, is the first Korean game to be approved in over two years.

Niko clients have access to deeper analysis about the games in this batch, the regulatory process, and market data and trends. Contact us and we will send you the complete analysis.

Source: State Administration of Press & Publication of the People’s Republic of China, with Niko Partners analysis (March 2020)