The Chinese government imposed a freeze on new video game licenses back in July 2021 and two of the largest video gaming entities in China, Tencent and NetEase, have been going through a rough time getting any game approved on home grounds since then. After a long wait that’s a little over a year, both companies received new game licenses in the fifth batch of approvals, for the first time since the license freeze.
The country’s regulatory body, The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) eventually ended the freeze in April 2022 and allowed a batch of 45 new titles to be published in China. Then, in June 2022, it approved 60 more titles to be published in China. The regulatory body authorized licenses for two more batches of games eventually, but in all four cases, both Tencent and NetEase were denied any new game licenses.
This time around, NPPA issued licenses for 73 new games. NetEase, Nanjing Wangdian Technology (a Tencent subsidiary), 4399 Network, and XD were some of the companies that received new video game licenses.
Tencent’s subsidiary Nanjing Wangdian will push out a tower-defense game called Defense of Health, meanwhile, NetEase’s approved title is a sports game dubbed Allstar Streetball Party. Keep in mind that neither of the game names is officially translated to English by the companies. The source of the news, Technode provided the translations of the games’ names.
What did Tencent do during the license freeze in China?
Tencent and NetEase have been following aggressive acquisition and investment strategies, heavily focusing on the western video game markets. During this time, Tencent launched a new publishing body named Level Infinite to help further its goals outside China. The technology and video game giant also acquired British video game company Sumo Group, Polish game developer and publisher company 1C Entertainment, and Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock Studios.
The company also increased its stakes in Ubisoft, made a minority investment in Mordhau developer Triternion, and acquired 16.25% of FromSoftware through its subsidiary Sixjoy Hong Kong.
Tencent also partnered up with Logitech to develop a cloud-based handheld video gaming device.
What did NetEase do during the license freeze in China?
NetEase has been quite busy as well, following a similar M&A strategy. Post-freeze period NetEase acquired Grasshopper Manufacture, invested in Polish VR game developer Something Random, opened up a US-based studio called Jar of Sparks with Xbox veteran Jerry Hook, launched a new studio in Tokyo called Nagoshi Studio with Yakuza producer Toshihiro Nagoshi, and most recently acquired French game developer Quantic Dream.
The Chinese gaming entity also launched Diablo Immortal in China, and the game immediately made its way back into the highest-grossing mobile games list in no time. NetEase also posted increased gaming revenues in Q2 2022
