Tencent to cut off Chinese gamers accessing unapproved foreign titles through an internet speed booster

China’s fervent steamrolling against gaming appears to be moving forward unabated, helped by major Chinese gaming companies that wish to stay on the government’s good side. The latest layer to the whole sordid mess comes by way of Tencent, which will be shutting down an aspect of an internet speed boosting app that was letting gamers in the country access unapproved titles.

The internet speed boosting mobile and desktop apps in question, which were launched by Tencent in 2018, allowed Chinese players to circumvent Chinese government restrictions and let them play titles such as Animal Crossing or Grand Theft Auto while also becoming a sort of grey area for foreign game devs to tap into the Chinese market. However, an update to Tencent’s apps coming on Tuesday, May 31st, will put the kibosh on the practice as only approved games will work on these apps. Reasons for the move were not elaborated on by Tencent.

In tangential news, China has eased a gaming approval freeze last week, which readers will recall had started in the middle of last year. This change in policy appears to have been applied only after Chinese game companies bent over backwards in order to meet a stringent and ever-changing series of opaque and aggressive requirements. We’ve been following along with this whole affair for a while; the full list of related stories unfurls below.