restrictions-extend-streams

Chinese gaming restrictions have tightened further, preventing streamers from broadcasting unapproved games.

Chinese gamers have come up against an all-new obstacle recently as the government has imposed restrictions on livestreams. Specifically, livestreamers can no longer broadcast unapproved titles. Which, thanks to the strict Chinese gaming restrictions, is quite a long list.

The move has come as part of the government’s war against perceived video game addiction in children. Heavy limitations have already been enforced for children under 18 meaning that they only have a few hours a week to play their favourite online video games. The kind of restrictions that would be enough to make even a grown gamer cry.

China’s media regulator, the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), is tasked with approving which games can be sold to gamers, with just a few hundred each year making the cut.

But our favourite kind of games - online ones - are typically the most maligned by the Chinese government regulator. Their sweeping restrictions focus on the MMO genre that can see many people dedicate days of their life to playing.

Unsurprisingly, where there’s a will there’s a way. And there are plenty of Chinese gamers who have found loopholes and methods through which to get their MMO fix, regulations be damned. The gargantuan Elden Ring, for example, is the third most streamed video game according to the Niko Index, despite not being approved for publication yet.

This new regulation, however, will see a crackdown on streamers who get their hands on and play unapproved publications. And while playing an illicit game in secret is one thing, it’s a lot harder to hide one’s track when broadcasting to the whole world online.

It was only last week that the NPPA approved their first slew of video games in months. But some of China’s biggest developers, including Tencent, weren’t among them.