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3 Dec, 8 tweets, 3 min read
Apple has sent a notice to developers reminding them that all paid games or games with in app purchases must have a license to operate in China. All games without a license will be removed after Dec 31

We have been updating our clients on this situation since Feb

Thread below
Chinese law requires all games to be approved for both content and monetisation before they can be officially distributed in Mainland China.

This is a policy that went into effect on July 1, 2016 for all games and has been enforced on Android app stores since.
While Apple does require developers to enter a license number before publishing to iOS in China, there are loopholes that allow devs to launch without a valid license

Over the past 2 years a new regulator was set up that instituted various reforms, including closing loopholes
We initially notified clients that the regulator planned to close this loophole at the beginning of the year.

Apple also sent out a notice to developers in February which we covered in a post on our blog below.

nikopartners.com/china-to-crack…
We also put out a longer blog post that explains the changes in depth, the impact on the market and more.

Apple originally stated that it would start delisting games from the app store without a license after June 30.

nikopartners.com/apple-will-req…
We initially found that 97 of the top 100 grossing games on the China iOS App Store have licenses. A limited impact on revenue.

However, 50 of the top 100 downloaded games did not have licenses, a more profound impact on top downloaded games.
Apple has been removing games from its China app store since June, and has extended the deadline for developers to ensure compliance, first to August 1 and now to December 31.

It is important to be aware of this if you (plan to) publish games in China.

venturebeat.com/2020/08/06/app…
The regulatory landscape has always been the highest barrier to success in China’s video games market. We recently published a report that helps people understand the regulatory environment and approval process.

nikopartners.com/niko-partners-…

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Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
5 Dec
The Monster Hunter movie has been pulled from theatres in China just 1 day after it released

This happened after strong backlash on social media over a scene that is considered offensive (below). It is unclear if the movie will return

Here is a thread to explain the situation:
Firstly I want to preface this by saying: if your immediate response is "That's not offensive" or "stop being sensitive" then I'm just going to block you.

If you're not Chinese then it's not really your place to decide what is / isn't offensive to people in China.
There are 4 key points to discuss in order to understand this situation.

1. The 10 second scene in the first tweet
2. The link to an old racist rhyme / phrase
3. The way the movie was subtitled during this part
4. Social media backlash and review bombing

我们开始吧
Read 15 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
4 Dec
Great writing in the Monster Hunter movie...
Anyway, this is going down about as well as you'd expect in China where it's being linked to the rhyme / phrase "Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees - look at these?" which is considered offensive. Image
Capcom has issued a statement on social media due to the backlash, stating that it is aware of the situation and the controversy. That it is not the producer on the MH movie and that it will report the situation to the relevant film companies to investigate. Image
Read 7 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
2 Dec
Internal data from Sony shows that PlayStation users regularly spend more time playing single player games than they do online games, and this is why they added the activities feature to PS5.

But aren't single player games dead?

Let's discuss. 1/

vice.com/en/article/5dp…
2/ It's no secret that the AAA games industry as a whole has been shifting away from single player (one & done) towards online and live service (recurrent) games on console.

These titles work at both a $60 price point and via the F2P model as games like Fortnite demonstrated.
3/ EA once famously said that linear single player games are dead, and to some extent they are correct due to adding the linear part

Single player as a whole was never dead

It's just AAA single player games that succeed have evolved to meet the current expectations of players
Read 19 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
29 Nov
Ok, Let's go on a journey.

Over the past two weeks the #MuseDash hashtag on TikTok has been blowing up.

It first started blowing up on Chinese TikTok (Douyin) where it has nearly 400m views. Overseas it has nearly 60m views.

So what is Muse Dash and why is this notable?
1/
Muse Dash is an anime style music rhythm game developed by a team in Guangzhou, China and published by XD Network, also China based.

The game has been out for over a year and is doing well for an indie title

Please note some of the in game art is 18+ as noted in Steam tags
If you use TikTok then you've probably come across the #MuseDash trend yourself. While it has taken on various forms at this point, it started out on Nov 8 as a simple live wallpaper video that had characters from the game in it

These videos captured the attention of many people
Read 10 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
27 Nov
Shanghai based game developer Lilith Games unveiled 'Farlight 84' this week. It's a new PvP shooter set in post apocalyptic 2084 with crafting, building and MOBA elements, which culminates in a 40 player battle royale.

The game will start testing in H1 2021 on PC & Mobile.
The game, which is developed on Unreal Engine 4, continues to show the evolution of the Chinese game development scene, taking the high definition graphics and in depth mechanics that work on console & PC and combining it with their strengths in mobile game development.
As we've seen with MiHoYo's Genshin Impact, Chinese game studios are investing in more robust experiences that can scale across multiple platforms to reach a broader audience.

These games are designed with global appeal in mind to reach players worldwide.
Read 7 tweets
Daniel Ahmad Profile picture
15 Nov
Today, thousands of people travelled to the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center to watch the Peacekeeper Elite Championship 2020.

An esports event for Tencent's mobile battle royale game called Peacekeeper Elite (Based on its PUBG Mobile license).

The event had a $1.8m Prize Pool
China has been holding esports events with a live audience since August. Starting with the Honor of Kings World Championship and more recently the LoL Worlds Championship.

The country has been able to successfully curb the spread of COVID-19, but precautions are still taken ofc.
The event was held over 2 days, with 15 teams competing across 8 matches.

The 15 teams were from China, Asia, the Americas and EMEA.

Chinese team Nova-XQF won the championship and took home more than $750k in winnings. They have won 2 years in a row now.
Read 7 tweets

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