Mein MMO believes: It is indeed peculiar when world politics impacts the gaming industry in this way.
More about the “licenses” in China and the difficulties associated with them:
Censorship – China bans streams of games that are not “approved”
The booming mobile game industry in Korea is also likely to be affected by these new difficulties.
Mein MMO believes: It is indeed peculiar when world politics impacts the gaming industry in this way.
More about the “licenses” in China and the difficulties associated with them:
Censorship – China bans streams of games that are not “approved”
Games from South Korea may face difficulties entering the Chinese market in the future. This could lead to the western market becoming more important for South Korean publishers, and games like Lost Ark arriving earlier to us.
The South Korean MMO giant Nexon (Vindictus, Elsword) saw a drop of 7% at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday, writes Nikkei Asian. This is because China has frozen the issuance of new licenses for South Korean games.
In order to distribute a game in China, a license is needed, which is tied to certain conditions: Publishers need the “okay” from the Chinese government if they want to make money in China.
This has already led to various conflicts. For example, Blizzard had to cover “bones” of the undead in Diablo 3 because displaying bare bones is considered taboo in China.
In general, it is believed that the freezing of new licenses is China’s response to South Korea installing a U.S. Army missile defense system: the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, abbreviated THAAD. According to the South Korean government, it is being deployed to protect against North Korean nuclear and weapons of mass destruction. China believes that the installation of this system could jeopardize stability on the Korean Peninsula.
These “licensing issues” affect games that are developed in South Korea and are intended for export to China. Games that already have such a license are not affected.
China bans South Korean games due to military conflict – What does this mean?
Due to China’s decision, there could also be some shifts in the MMO market. Recently, the West has slipped further down the priority list for South Korean publishers and has become less important.
This means that fans are currently waiting much longer for the “great games” because they come to China and Russia first rather than to us in Europe and North America.
The Chinese market has become increasingly important for Korea MMOs. Games like the highly anticipated Lost Ark have recently targeted the Chinese market as their primary focus; imports to the West have not been prioritized and, in the case of Lost Ark, have not even been announced. This may change with this shift in China. If China becomes unavailable as a market for South Korea, the West may come back into focus.
However,Lost Ark will still take a while to even be released in South Korea.
The booming mobile game industry in Korea is also likely to be affected by these new difficulties.
Mein MMO believes: It is indeed peculiar when world politics impacts the gaming industry in this way.
More about the “licenses” in China and the difficulties associated with them:
Censorship – China bans streams of games that are not “approved”
