China’s Ministry of Culture is the government agency that covers (among other things) what imagery can and cannot be shown in a video game. Official approval from the Ministry of Culture is necessary to market a video game in the country, which is why you get stories about certain games (such as World of Warcraft) making changes to models or content in order to pass the approval process. For Chinese indie developers, there’s been a relatively simple solution to move around these restrictions: By streaming games that are not approved by the Ministry of Culture, it’s possible to market and sell a game which has not gone through the lengthy and expensive approval process.
Unfortunately for the indie development scene, new restrictions have been placed by the Ministry of Culture banning the streaming of unapproved games. That includes indie games and games on Steam from US publishers who have not sought approval from the government, and it could result in a major clamp-down on the Chinese indie scene. The full impact of these laws will take some time to be felt, but in a game where streaming is one of the primary means of learning about new games which might otherwise slip under the radar, it’s almost inevitable that the impact will be significant.
