The National Press and Publication Administration approved 15 foreign video games during the first week of June, which brings their grand total to 61 on the year thus far, according to the South China Morning Post.
Some of those include titles from Riot Games, whose banner title in the super popular ‘League of Legends’, as well as brand such as Nintendo and Sega, who are among those who are set to be released in the domestic market.
The mobile version of Riot Games’ popular first person shooter ‘VALORANT’, which is based within the United States but is owned by Tencent Holdings, is among some of the approved titles that were approved by the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), which is the agency in charge of licensing video games in China.
Under Chinese regulations, an overseas video game cannot be monetized in the country without a government permit. For those titles looking to gain approval, they must go through a process of localization with censorship of sensitive content and it must be operated through a Chinese partner, such as either Tencent Holdings or fellow games publisher NetEase.
Additionally, the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) also approved three titles for the Nintendo Switch, including the role-playing game Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and platform adventure game Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury.
Tencent Holdings is the official distributor of the Nintendo Switch console in the mainland China. Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage, a Japanese rhythm game developed by Colorful Palette and published by Sega in 2020, was also approved.
