Specialist
Senior Executive at Guangdong Entertainment & Game Industry Association
Agenda
- Latest policy analysis, regulation dynamics and direction – Notice on Further Preventing Minors from Indulging in Online Games and Online Gaming Industry Anti-addiction Self-Regulation Convention
- Latest policy analysis, regulation dynamics and direction – Notice on Further Preventing Minors from Indulging in Online Games and Online Gaming Industry Anti-addiction Self-Regulation Convention
- Game licence approval speed, criteria, content requirements, trends in the number of games approved each year
- Approved and unapproved games’ advertising restrictions and content censorship, plus impacts on the game publishing industry
- Policy impacts on large and SME gaming companies, plus their countermeasures
- Attitudes towards foreign games and Chinese games going global
- E-sports dynamics amid tightening regulation
Questions
1.
In August 2021, the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) published the Notice on Further Preventing Minors from Indulging in Online Games, which requires that minors should not play games for more than three hours a week. In September, the Game Publishing Committee of China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association and its member units as well as related gaming companies jointly signed the Online Gaming Industry Anti-addiction Self-Regulation Convention under the guidance of national regulatory authorities. A training session on online game licence approval criteria was held in late September. Can you summarise the recently issued policies and regulations on the gaming industry? What are the most noteworthy regulatory trends and policy implementation focuses in the future?
2.
How do you comment on the frequently issued new policies regarding the gaming industry in Q3 2021 to support previous education regulations? Did the issuance of the new gaming industry policies have anything to do with the improper business practices of some gaming companies? Are the policies specifically targeted at any gaming companies?
3.
As you said, the game licence approval process will be resumed soon. It is reported that Chinese government departments held training sessions on game licence approval criteria for gaming companies in late September. Apart from the fact that relevant government departments were busy checking approved games’ connection with the anti-addiction system, were there any other reasons why no new game was approved in August and September? Did the approval criteria become stricter, which led to a lower approval speed? Will Chinese regulators further reduce the number of new games that can be approved in a year?
4.
In the training session on online game licence approval criteria held at the end of this September, two aspects were emphasised. First, games shouldn’t induce players to consume. Second, some unconventional content, such as wasteland, apocalypse, ACG (anime, comics, games), anti-social and anti-human elements, boys’ love and slash stories, cissy style, is criticised. Will ACG, in particular, be discouraged? How will Genshin Impact and games of this type be influenced?
5.
When will the game licence approval resume? Will it be this October or after the end of 2021?
6.
In terms of the yet-to-be-released games that fail to win approval, what features do they have? Why hasn’t Dungeon and Fighter been approved? What are game developers’ countermeasures? Will they wait, rectify for approval or sell the games?
7.
There is a draft of new rules for game content. When will the official regulation be rolled out? Is the official regulation similar to that draft?
8.
How do you define overspending on games? Will charges in games be limited, or will there be limits on players’ per-capita consumption in games? Can I say that the gacha model will be banned?
9.
Let’s turn to the topic of future regulation on minors and adults. First, are the current public opinion that minors should just spend three hours a week on games and the relevant regulations a bit harsh? Will the strict control of minors’ gaming time affect the gaming industry in the medium and long term regarding the player base, activeness, stickiness and enthusiasm for online games? Second, will there be policies for adults regarding the time and money they spend on games?
10.
Will there be any specific policies for the e-sports industry? If minors are not allowed to play games without limits, is it possible that the domestic e-sports industry will collapse?
11.
Are there any changes to the current policy requirements for game advertising and advertising content censorship? It is said that unapproved games cannot be exposed in the media or video platforms. Is that true?
12.
Currently, it is difficult to get approval for game content. Why do you think game developers have a better time?
13.
There are probably a lot of unapproved games that have been tested. Do you see any impact on game publishers, distributors and game sharing platforms such as TapTap?
14.
There are some short videos and live-streaming activities related to unapproved foreign console games on Bilibili. Will they be banned?
15.
As you mentioned, some game publishers are having a hard time now. How will they respond to it by adopting competitive strategies? Will they actively lower their commissions?
16.
The government doesn’t seem to be encouraging imported games, especially console games. What do you think of the government’s attitude towards the regulation on import and export of games?
17.
As you mentioned, the whole regulatory situation is good news for large gaming companies, but a hit on SMEs. You also said that companies of different sizes may focus on different things, namely R&D or publishing. How will they be affected respectively?
