China approves 80 games for the Chinese market

The Chinese government has approved eighty online games, so that they can now be released on the Chinese market. The decision comes after months of no games being approved, causing financial damage to game makers.

Reuters news agency reports that the Chinese authorities have approved about 80 online games, but that this does not include games from Tencent, China’s market leader in online games. The company did say that the approvals are generally good for the game industry in China.

Earlier this month, it appeared that China would start judging games again, after an eight-month hiatus. The Chinese state has set up a new ‘Online Games Ethics Committee’ to test new video games. That committee determines whether a game fits within ‘social morality’, although it appears that the exact requirements for games are not unambiguous, so that many game makers do not know exactly where they stand.

In March, the Chinese authorities temporarily stopped approving games for the Chinese market. This subsequently caused many game makers to miss sales in China.