Sources: Approval of Game Registration Numbers May Resume Soon, Necessary for Game Publishing
On November 16, 21st Century Business Herald quoted several insiders at game companies saying that the approval of game registration numbers may be resumed soon. The latest list of approved domestic online game registration numbers was released by China’s National Press and Publication Administration on July 22. The registration numbers of domestic online games have not been issued for three consecutive months.
In those three months, the businesses of some game companies have been affected to varying degrees. Recently, the third-person shooting game Fortress Night, developed by Epic Games and represented by Tencent Games, announced on its official website that it would stop testing. It is reported that Fortress Night’s China service has been in a free testing stage for three years, but has never been officially put into operation because it has not obtained the online game registration number.
According to Chinese regulations, without their registration numbers, games cannot be officially put into operation. The examination and approval of online games refer to that before online games are put into public operation, an application must be submitted to the publishing administrative department of the local province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government. After getting the approval, it should be further examined by the National Press and Publication Administration. The “Examination and Approval Document Number” and “Online Game Publication Number (ISBN)” are commonly known as the “Game Registration Number.”
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In addition, on August 30, a new regulation was issued, requiring companies to effectively prevent minors from getting addicted to online games and strictly limiting the time spent on online games for minors.
According to the report, some insiders analyzed that a series of recent supervision policies for the protection of minors concerning online games could be the main reason for the delay in resuming the distribution of game registration numbers.
