China issues 60 new video game licenses, none for Tencent or NetEase (updated)

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07/06/2022 13:39

(Add details of the new batch of license)
    By Josh Ye
    HONG KONG, June 7 (Reuters) - China's gaming regulator on
Tuesday granted publishing licenses to 60 games, in a move
likely to bring relief to a sector bruised by a regulatory
crackdown and a lengthy suspension of gaming approvals. 
    The National Press and Public Administration (NPPA)
published the June list on its website on Tuesday, which
included titles belonging to developers such as Perfect World
 002624.SZ  and Mihoyo. 
    Other titles included mostly smaller-budget games such as
Jurassic Army by Shanghai Eyugame and Kittens' Courtyard by
Beijing Object Online Technology. 
    The list, however, did not contain titles belonging to the
industry's biggest players, such as Tencent Holdings  0700.HK 
and NetEase  9999.HK . Still, Tencent’s American Depository
Receipts gained more than 1.54% following the news. NetEase also
saw shares rise nearly 1.35% in pre-market trading in New York. 
    It also did not include any foreign titles, extending the
dry spell for imported video games to 12 months.  
    The June list comes over a month after the last batch of
licenses was announced on April 30. The NPPA did not publish a
list in May, and has not given a reason why. 
    Prior to April, Chinese regulators stopped approving game
monetisation licenses for nearly eight months, heavily impacting
Tencent and NetEase and putting thousands of firms in the
industry out of business.
    That pause coincided with a move by China in August to
impose new gaming time limits on under-18s, an intervention it
said was needed to pull the plug on a growing addiction to what
state media once described as "spiritual opium".

 (Reporting by Josh Ye, Meg Shen and Twinnie Siu
Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)
 ((meg.shen@thomsonreuters.com; 852-39525805;))