China Vs Nextgen games
China ain´t a Gaming/Gamer friendly country. At least not for now.
Since China temporarily lifted its ban on foreign video game consoles in January, it was only a matter of time before the government offered new rules to regulate console, and game distribution. According to a Shanghai government release translated by Games in Asia, those rules will dictate the kind of content that won't be allowed to be sold in the country.
Such gambiling-related game features. This isn’t a surprise coming from the Chinese Government, as they pass legislation upon things we think are foolish all the time, such as music, adult video’s, and news related media.
Additionally, anything deemed threatening to "China's national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity" and content that "instigates racial/ethnic hatred" won't be allowed in the country. Games also can not promote "obscenity, drug use, violence or gambling," as well as cults and superstitions.
Approved games cannot violate China's constitution, nor can they harm its culture, traditions and public ethics. So I guess Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, and Skylander’s are out of the question?
The policies state that foreign companies, are to work with a local company to produce consoles within the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, such as Sony's PlayStation 4, or Microsoft's Xbox One, the latter of which arrived in 26 more regions just last month. This means that they are trying to establish in house consoles, that will most likely be locked down hardcore to prevent importing, and piracy.
Plus, games in China must go through an approval process with Shanghai's culture department, which will take "no longer than 20 days." This applies to game updates, with new content, such as DLC, even if the game itself was already approved. This could cause, a lot of people to still attempt to import games, and systems, unless the mail is checked very heavily in China, which wouldn’t surprise me.
Lastly, all console games will be required to have a simplified Chinese version, so publishers won't be able to simply re-sell Hong Kong and Taiwan versions of their games. So According to this article, China is trying to spear-head the gaming market by demanding exclusivity, and original content, period.
I find it funny, because when you read all of this, you want to ask why allow gaming to begin with at all?
/Kenay Peterson
The Gaming Ground
