VALORANT will be available in China after government approval
After a lengthy approval process due to China’s tight licensing regulations, Riot Games’ tactical FPS title VALORANT has been cleared for launch and is set to be playable for Chinese players in the future.
On December 27, the National Press and Publication Administration released a list of approved games with 80 domestic and 45 imported titles expected to become available in the coming days. Among the foreign titles, VALORANT was listed along with other notable franchises such as Gwent the Witcher Card Game, and the MOBA Pokemon UNITE.
Image taken from Weibo
Previously the game’s license was suspended back in August and was only accessible via a VPN connection to the game’s Hong Kong servers. Despite this, Chinese esport powerhouse EDward Gaming was still able to find success with their dominant performance in the APAC Last Chance Qualifiers which marked the first Chinese team appearance in Champions earlier this year.
The approval of the game titles has been welcome news since the Chinese government has tightened down on the video game industry; enforcing stricter policies such as restricting the number of time children and teenagers may spend playing video games even before the ban was enacted and the termination of the game approval process.
Compared to the rest of the world, the release of video games in the country requires approval from the Chinese government before being allowed to be distributed and although titles like VALORANT have managed to slip through, regulations still pose a problem for tech companies like Tencent to publish in a large market that is the Chinese player base.
Image taken from Google Images
As the publishing of video games is a significant source of income for Chinese technology businesses, this deals with a significant problem for them in the long run; with the number of licenses being granted being fewer than in previous years. For comparison, China has approved 76 imported games in 2021 as opposed to 456 titles in 2017.
The game’s developer, Riot Games, has yet to provide an official statement on the development but seeing as China is one of their major player base for their other titles (e.g. League of Legends), plans for the game’s release in the country won’t be far behind.
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