[UPDATE: A prior version of this story inaccurately claimed that China is banning games for having marriage gameplay. The story has been edited for clarity and Game Rant apologizes for the error.]
A new report reveals that the Chinese government has instituted new regulations that will limit which games are approved in the country. China only allows some games to be released in the country each year and hugely popular games like Fortnite have been banned there.
Niko Partners says that China is rejecting games for having English language words such as "Winner" and "Attack" and that all games should have Simplified Chinese. China will reject games for having any pools of blood of any color and dead bodies must also fade away quickly. Another rule says that games with marriage gameplay must not let children access the feature.
There's also a rule on loot boxes in video games. It's not a complete ban on loot boxes like the laws created in some countries, such as Belgium which sees them as gambling, but companies do have to make the odds of the boxes public. Showing the percentage of getting an item won't work, developers must post the number of times a player would need to draw to get an item on their site or in the game.
This isn't the first time that China has created new game rules for child gamers. In November, China created a gaming curfew for young people that gives them a limit on how long they can play. Children have to register with an identification system that would allow developers to enforce these rules, meaning it's incredibly difficult to get around them.
The Chinese gaming market is huge, earning around $36.5 billion each year. Releasing games in China can be a major moneymaker for developers which is why they will make changes to their games to get around these rules. It's why Blizzard Entertainment filed a lawsuit to protect its copyright in the country, making sure that Chinese Overwatch clones can't take its player base in the region.
Some Blizzard critics also think that the company's revenue in China is the reason for the Blizzard Hong Kong controversy as the developer banned and fined players for supporting protests. Blizzard has not said that this is the case, but looking at how much money China makes, it's no surprise why companies would follow these rules and try to get in the country's good books.
Source: Niko Partners