Jiang Zemin, the former President of the People’s Republic of China, passed away on November 30 at the age of 96 due to leukemia. In his honor, a memorial service was held on the morning of December 6 in Beijing. Public entertainment activities were to be suspended for that day – including online games like LoL and CS:GO.
What lies behind the game shutdowns? China mourns the politician and former President Jiang Zemin, who passed away on November 30 due to leukemia. He was 96 years old.
A memorial service was announced for the morning of December 6. Public entertainment was to be largely suspended for that day. As a sign of respect and mourning, several major Chinese online games announced they would cease operations for that day.
Daniel Ahmad, who reports on the Asian gaming market on Twitter, even writes that all online games were taken offline for the day. However, this only affects servers on the Chinese mainland; European and North American services should not be restricted (via Twitter).
In the screenshot shared by Daniel Ahmad, the website of a Chinese game can be seen. This is apparently displayed in black and white as a sign of mourning.
Which games are affected? All online games in China are to be suspended for the day. Among others, Tencent, which operates the multiplayer game Honor of Kings, announced it would shut down its games for December 6.
This also affects games like League of Legends and Call of Duty Online. CS:GO will also be unavailable in China that day due to an update.
Additionally, miHoYo (Genshin Impact) and NetEase (Identity V) announced they would shut down their games for the day.
Why are the games being shut down at all? Here it may seem unusual that the entire entertainment industry shuts down for the funeral of a politician. However, as the US magazine Dexerto reports, a state funeral in China is a national day of mourning.
Under Chinese law, there are therefore restrictions on various activities so that the population can mourn the deceased.
Valve also had to comply with Chinese law and suspend the online services of CS:GO for the day. However, players outside of China should not be affected by this.
As Daniel Ahmad reports, a similar incident occurred in April 2020. At that time, online games were shut down in memory of those who lost their lives due to Corona (via Twitter).
Even without a national day of mourning, gamers in China often face restrictions. In November, Blizzard announced it would no longer work with the Chinese company NetEase next year. What the implications are, you can read here:
