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China has resumed approving games for release this weekend, this follows a halt to the process which was put in place in March earlier this year over fears that video games were too violent and that they were causing youngsters to develop addictions to the games. The resumption of the approval process saw 80 games approved on Saturday.
According to Reuters, one notable publisher did not appear on the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television’s approval list – that was Tencent, the firm responsible for popular games including Arena of Valor and mobile editions of PUBG. With that said, just because we haven’t seen any Tencent titles getting approval, there could be some made in the near future as approvals are made on a first come first serve basis according to developers talking to TechCrunch.
There are supposedly 7,000 titles now waiting to be approved after the delay and 3,000 of those are expected to receive a license from the regulator during 2019. There’s a good chance Tencent will be among those receiving a license for its games; in 2017 it introduced time limits to its Honor of Kings game that in order to curb children’s play time and prevent addiction to the game.
The World Health Organization (WHO), almost a year ago, listed video game addiction as a mental health condition for the first time along with the symptoms shown by those with the problem. WHO said symptoms include impaired control over gaming frequency, intensity and duration of game play, and there being a higher priority being allotted to gaming by those with the condition.
Source: Reuters & TechCrunch