Chinese Agency: Foreign Online Game Operators Not Allowed

October 12, 2009

Two arms of the Chinese government appear to be battling over whether or not non-Chinese companies can operate online games within the country’s borders.

The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) issued a statement on Friday saying that “foreign companies are not allowed to operate online games in China in any form.” The only problem? Control of China’s online gaming industry was taken away from GAPP last month and given to the Ministry of Culture. Proactive Investors reports that Tuo Zu Hai, a Vice Director in the Ministry of Culture was “startled to hear the news” emanating from GAPP.

Reuters states that the ban covers all foreign investment in online games, including joint ventures, agreements and technology support, which may not be good news for NetEase.com, the new operator of World of Warcraft in China.

While GAPP’s position is not entirely new, the story notes that strict enforcement of the ideology was not previously common place.

The statement from GAPP was released just in advance of the kick off of the Game Developers Conference in Shanghai, which opened today.

Posted in China

Comments

Re: Chinese Agency: Foreign Online Game Operators Not ...

Submitted by Thomas McKenna on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 18:58.

What will happen to CCP Shanghai?

Re: Chinese Agency: Foreign Online Game Operators Not ...

Submitted by gamegod25 on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 17:46.

All I'm gonna say is once again I'm glad I live in the US.

Re: Chinese Agency: Foreign Online Game Operators Not ...

Submitted by mentor07825 on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 14:36.

I say we should bring in Liberty Prime in there to clean up that mess. That country desperately needs Liberty Prime, badly.

For those of you who are unfortunate enough not to know who Liberty Prime is, here is a video with his best speech clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=298Cw3_qGwE

LIBERTY PRIME FTW!!!

"God, is that you?"

"No! It's a me, Mario!"

"God, is that you?" "No! It's a me, Mario!"

Re: Chinese Agency: Foreign Online Game Operators Not ...

Submitted by Rodrigo Ybáñez ... on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 11:51.

Next thing will be to cover China with a energy force field which will kill anybody who touch it. China needs a good civil war in the next years if they want to get rid of their moronic and fanatical leaders.

They will look up and shout "Give ROFLCOPTERS to us"... and I´ll whisper "NO". The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com

Re: Chinese Agency: Foreign Online Game Operators Not ...

Submitted by michaelleung on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 12:01.

Please be joking about that.

Steam ID: canadakiller

Re: Chinese Agency: Foreign Online Game Operators Not ...

Submitted by Rodrigo Ybáñez ... on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 13:12.

About the civil war? No, I´m serious. I know war is terrible but the most of the time serves to put down tyranic regimenes out of the power. There´s not enough democracy in the world to fix China goverment´s stupidity.

Re: Chinese Agency: Foreign Online Game Operators Not ...

Submitted by Arell on Mon, 10/12/2009 - 13:59.

You have to realize that most Chinese people fully buy into the idea that the government knows what's best for them and it's their duty to obey, even when they don't necessarily agree. There's the occasional protest, or a cry for justice when something really bad happens, but largescale civil disobedience and social change are practically foreign to the "average" Chinese. There's very little chance you could stir up a civil war in China at the moment. Maybe amongst the tiny minority of modern Westernized Chinese, but very unlikely.

Not that advocating a civil war is a good idea, anyway.

Re: Chinese Agency: Foreign Online Game Operators Not ...

Submitted by Rodrigo Ybáñez ... on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 10:39.

It´s gonna happen one day, not this decade, not this century, but it will, as same as many other countries before us. People will regret their attitude and they will claim for a change, and that will led to a violent confrontation.

I´m not advocating for war either, but I think when the things will get worst and China still give a fuck for civil liberties, chinese people will not tolerate it anymore.

Shout box

DorthLous: Passed 1.5M$. And I'd also say that Brutal Legend is far from being a bad game. I just think it was a few levels under what people expected from the people working on the project.02/11/2012 - 8:25am

Technogeek: Brutal Legend wasn't bad so much as "marketing had no idea how the game actually played", causing it to suffer accordingly.02/10/2012 - 10:38pm

RedMage: It looks the CIA's website has been DDOS'ed. Anon?02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

RedMage: Brutal Legend.02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

ddrfr33k: Has anything Tim Schafer ever made been of crap caliber? I'm struggling to think of one...02/10/2012 - 7:37pm

Guamish: I think it is in good hands. Tim did a game for the GDC award show and that was fun for how short it was.02/10/2012 - 12:22pm

Andrew Eisen: It'll be tragic if the game ultimately sucks.02/10/2012 - 12:17pm

james_fudge: $1.3 million02/10/2012 - 11:32am

Uncharted NES: Germany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]- http://tinyurl.com/7r2twrg02/10/2012 - 11:21am

Andrew Eisen: Damn. Double Fine's Kickstarter fund has already passed a million dollars.02/09/2012 - 8:16pm

Andrew Eisen: Audrey didn't quote the sassy parts. Here's IGN's article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218359p1.html And here's my original post: http://tinyurl.com/7y68a3902/09/2012 - 7:50pm

james_fudge: I hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey, neat. IGN quoted a blog I had writen only two hours earlier. I certainly timed that one pretty well.02/09/2012 - 7:38pm

Andrew Eisen: Toki Tori has been added to the Humble Bundle for Android.02/09/2012 - 5:11pm

james_fudge: Thanks for the heads-up DorthLous02/09/2012 - 4:33pm

DorthLous: Will do, my apologies.02/09/2012 - 4:14pm

Andrew Eisen: I appreciate the heads up but please keep typo alerts to the specific article's comments or PMs.02/09/2012 - 3:33pm

DorthLous: The title says 30, but in the article, the developer says it's like a 20% net tax http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/02/09/developers-call-facebook-currency-transaction-fee-thirty-percent-tax02/09/2012 - 2:43pm

Uncharted NES: If they actually release Final Fantasy XI for PlayStation Vita, then I will consider buying one.02/09/2012 - 12:13pm

Uncharted NES: Customers Petition Apple to End Worker Abuse with 250,000 signatures- http://tinyurl.com/6vpuom202/09/2012 - 11:28am

All shouts

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