Toto says that an increasing number of foreign studios “will refrain from even trying to bring their games to the Chinese market, given the current regulatory environment.Electronic Arts has announced the closure of Ridgeline Games, the studio working on a new single-player Battlefield campaign.Īs reported by IGN, the project is reportedly set to continue with "some" employees from Ridgeline set to join Ripple Effect – another Battlefield studio working on a different experience within the franchise. But Fortnite’s target audience of preteens and teenagers made it an obvious target.Īs one of the world’s most popular games, Fortnite’s high-profile retreat from China is a signal to other foreign game developers that it’s becoming harder to do business in the country. In Fortnite’s case, the game isn’t particularly violent (it only features mild cartoon violence, rather than blood and gore, which Beijing prohibits), and doesn’t include imagery that regulators would likely view as problematic, says Toto. Meanwhile titles like shooter game Call of Duty, FIFA, and Pokémon were able to enter the China market “after ensuring that content changes were in line with regulations,” he says. And action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto, published by New York-based Rockstar Games, was banned for being overly violent, says Ahmad. game firm Electronic Arts, was denied a license for portraying China in a negative light. First-person shooter game Battlefield, developed by Swedish firm EA DICE and published by U.S. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG as it’s commonly known, is a battle royal shooter game that also failed to obtain approval for its PC version (despite its mobile version being highly popular in China), after regulators introduced more stringent game approval rules over the past few years. Western games, particularly battle royal games that feature violence, tend to face heavy censorship and content changes from state regulators. Gaming firms should “fully recognize the importance and urgency to tackle video gaming addiction… has affected studies and normal life,” the NPPA said in a statement.įortnite’s shutdown in China is only the latest-and likely won’t be the last-in a long string of video game bans in the country as Chinese authorities tighten their control over the industry, analysts say. Extremely difficult climateĮarlier this year, a Chinese state-run newspaper decried online games as “spiritual opium.” A few weeks later, in August, Beijing cracked down on the video game industry when China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) restricted children’s video-game playing time to no more than three hours per week. The lack of revenue probably set the stage for Epic and its China partner, Tencent, to close the game when faced with Beijing’s gaming crackdown, says Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at video game research firm Niko Partners. Fortnite’s lack of an official license to fully operate means the game couldn’t be monetized through features like in-app purchases. Fortress Night-as Fortnite is known in China-was originally introduced to the Chinese market in 2018 as a beta version, but regulatory approval for a full launch in the country never materialized. The current tough climate for game studios, especially foreign ones, has compounded what was already a problematic situation for Fortnite. Best Online Master's in Computer Science Degrees.Best Online Master's in Cybersecurity Degrees.Best Online Master's in Data Science Programs.
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