Presumably, now it is he who is responsible for issuing permits for publishing games in the Middle Kingdom.
China has a new regulator, the Online Gaming Ethics Committee. He will deal with the ethical analysis of game projects that are going to enter the regional market.
This is reported by the South China Morning Post and Abacus with reference to the Chinese Central Television Channel (CCTV). They also note that there is still very little information about the new state body.
Now it is only known that the committee has already managed to consider 20 projects. Nine of them were rejected, the committee sent the remaining 11 for revision in order to “reduce ethical risks” (it is not known which games and publishers are in question).
The possible initiator of the appearance of the regulator in its current form was Wang Dalun, Vice Chairman The Committee on Home Education and the Chinese Educational Society. This summer, he proposed to create an institute that will help fight gambling addiction among young people by tracking, evaluating and checking online projects.
In China, such dependence is considered a serious problem. In addition, games are called one of the causes of myopia in children. Therefore, the Ministry of Education of China recommends publishers to limit the time and number of sessions for underage players.
As for the appearance of the Online Gaming Ethics Committee and its willingness to consider games for publication, this should rather be seen as a positive event. Especially against the background of the recent signing of an agreement between Valve and the Shanghai government to launch Steam China in China.
Both events indicate the completion of restructuring in the administrations responsible for the interaction of the gaming sector and the government.
Recall that the permutations started in March of this year. They led to the freezing of the issuance of identification numbers to games, without which Chinese app stores do not have the right to place games on their pages.
The latter has led to a reduction in the cost of Chinese companies, a decrease in their revenue due to the inability to bring new products to the market against the background of a forced increase in marketing spending and an attempt to strengthen their positions in the Western market.
Also on the topic: