Game of Thrones video game coming to China, as regulator approves first foreign titles in more than a year
- The State Administration of Press and Publications licensed 30 online games based on foreign intellectual property
China’s top content regulator has approved a fresh batch of online video games based on foreign intellectual property (IP), the government’s first such move in more than a year after it ended a nine-month licensing freeze.
The State Administration of Press and Publications (SAPP) on Tuesday published a list of 30 newly licensed foreign online games. This included titles submitted by China’s three biggest video gaming companies – Tencent Holdings, NetEase and Perfect World.
Among the new titles approved was Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming, a strategy game for mobile phones developed by Shanghai-based Yoozoo Games in partnership with HBO and Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment.
Tencent, which runs the world’s biggest video games business by revenue, will handle China distribution for that highly anticipated game, adapted from the hit HBO show Game of Thrones that is on its eighth and final season. The game is currently in beta testing.
“Although a quota implementation will likely be maintained for imported games, this is, nonetheless, a positive for both domestic publishers and overseas game developers,” Jefferies equity analyst Karen Chan said in a report on Tuesday.
