Goddess of Victory: Nikke and Supercell’s Squad Busters, both distributed in China by Tencent, were approved by the gaming regulator.
China has given the nod to 128 Chinese and foreign video games for domestic release in October, a batch that includes the highly anticipated Goddess of Victory: Nikke, backed by Tencent Holdings, as excitement in the country’s gaming industry continues following the release of Black Myth: Wukong.
The National Press and Publication Administration, the agency responsible for licensing video games, approved the release of 113 domestically developed titles and 15 imported titles, according to the two lists it released on its official website on Friday.
The most notable approved foreign game is Goddess of Victory: New Hope, the domestic version of Goddess of Victory: Nikke, an anime-style role-playing shooting game developed by South Korean gaming studio Shift Up, in which Tencent owns a 35 per cent stake, according to the company’s stock exchange filing in July.
The international version of Goddess of Victory: Nikke, published by Tencent’s video game publishing division Level Infinite, has been a global hit since launching in November 2022.
The domestic title will be jointly published by Tencent and Migu Fun, the gaming platform owned by China’s biggest telecommunications company, China Mobile.
Shenzhen-based Tencent appears to be the big winner in the latest batch of approvals, as it is also the domestic distributor of another approved game, Squad Busters, a mobile action game developed by Finnish video game developer Supercell.
The regulator has kept its pace of approvals for domestic video games above 100 per month this year. Approval of foreign video games are fewer and come roughly every two months. Approvals have picked up this year as the government seeks to revive the industry after a prolonged down period following a 2021 crackdown.
The latest batch of approvals came two months after the release of the blockbuster title Black Myth: Wukong, regarded as China’s first AAA game. It took the global video gaming community by storm and put the country’s US$45 billion video gaming industry in the international spotlight.
The game, developed by Tencent-backed studio Game Science, has continued to enjoy an enthusiastic response from gamers. Sales have surpassed 21.5 million units on online video games store Steam, according to industry analytics firm VG Insights.
The title also propelled China’s video gaming market to reach record-high revenue in the third quarter. Sales in the world’s second-largest video gaming market by revenue rose 8.95 per cent year on year to 91.8 billion yuan (US$12.9 billion), according to a report by the Gaming Publishing Committee of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association.
Source: SCMP
