China grants gaming licence to XD title, first since July - document (updated)

XD

11/04/2022 12:28

(Add details that sources say the Chinese regulator plans to
publish a list soon)
    By Josh Ye
    HONG KONG, April 11 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators awarded
XD Inc  2400.HK  a publishing licence for its title "Party Star"
on April 8, a document seen by Reuters showed, in one of its
first approvals of a game since July last year. 
    The document showed that the game was granted an ISBN, a
licence required by China for developers to publish games on the
mainland.
    The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA)
plans to publish a list of games it has granted licences to
soon, three sources told Reuters. 
    XD and the NPPA did not immediately respond to requests for
comment. 
    Chinese regulators stopped approving game monetisation
licences in July last year, dealing a blow to the country’s many
tech giants which rely heavily on gaming revenue. 
    The pause coincided with a move by China in August to impose
new gaming time limits on under-18s, a stringent social
intervention that it said was needed to pull the plug on a
growing addiction to what it once described as "spiritual
opium".  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Q10KB
    By Monday, it had become China's longest game approval
freeze, exceeding an earlier suspension in 2018 when China
stopped approving new video game titles over a nine-month period
as part of an overhaul of the regulatory bodies that oversee the
sector.

 (Reporting by Josh Ye, Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by
Kirsten Donovan)
 ((brenda.goh@thomsonreuters.com; +86 (0) 21 2083 0088; Reuters
Messaging: brenda.goh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))