China’s recent freezing of issuing game licenses has resulted in more than 140K firms shutting down in the region.
Before game developers and companies could sell their games on the Play Store or App Store a gaming license must be obtained. China has stopped issuing new licenses since late 2021 and continues well into 2022.
The regulatory body that’s responsible for issuing gaming licenses is the NPPA, or National Press and Publication Administration. Following the freeze, the South China Morning Post mentioned that it’s the longest since the 9-month suspension, which happened in 2018.
In July last year, regulators deemed new games ‘a bit too aggressive’ for this first half, then suddenly called a hiatus. Lack of game licenses means games may not be updated or submitted to the region’s App Store. In related news, Apple has been pulling out games that didn’t have the NPPA license from the platform as part of local law compliance.
