The Chinese video game market has taken a hit this year following the introduction of regulations throughout the country. According to a report released by the Game Publishing Committee (GPC) of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, the country’s gaming industry saw gross sales grow by 6.4% this year, which was way down from 20.7% in 2020. Meanwhile, the number of Chinese gamers only increased by 0.22% compared to 3.7% last year.
Yang Fang, the deputy director of the publishing bureau under the Central Propaganda Department, said that the government aims to prevent “the disorderly expansion and the barbaric growth of capital.” She went on to say that China will launch a campaign to boost “positive energy” in games, encouraging the growth of titles with “good themes, superior ideas, and good production quality”.
Overall, total revenues for the Chinese gaming market hit $46.6 billion in 2021. However, the sales growth rate this year was the slowest China had seen since 2018. This was due to enacted gaming restrictions as well as a freeze on gaming license approvals.
On August 30th, China enacted new regulations that limited minors to three hours of video gameplay each week. This came after a state-published article described the use of gaming and esports in the country as “spiritual opium”.
The Profit‘s Take:
On the Business of Esports Weekly News Show, we have talked about these Chinese gaming regulations a lot since they first came out and whether they would have an impact on the industry. We all kind of agreed that it would hurt the Chinese gaming market. Now, we have data to prove that was exactly the case. 2018 was a pretty bad year from a growth perspective, so it’s not a good sign that 2021 is drawing similar comparisons to that period of time.
(All information was provided by Reuters and South China Morning Post)
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