The Chinese government has added yet another layer to its continuing crackdown on nearly all things video games. The country’s National Radio and Television Administration has now announced that it will be banning all livestreams and broadcasts of games that do not meet the government’s approval.
This new limitation extends to all streams of unapproved games across all platforms, regardless of if they’re smaller streamers or major esports competitions, while livestreams of overseas titles should not be carried out without approval and that streamers should resist “abnormal aesthetics” and the promotion of wealth or celebrity status. “For a period of time, issues such as chaotic online livestreaming and teenage addiction to games have raised widespread concerns in society and effective measures need to be taken urgently,” reasons the government body in an official notice.
This new requirement is another refocusing on streamer culture that the country has applied for years, including restrictions applied by the Ministry of Culture in 2016 and a country-wide “Healthy China 2030” initiative in 2020 to tamp down “mental disorders” related to streaming and gaming, to say nothing of the more recent regulatory limitations imposed by the government.
Further reading:
• China’s National Radio and Television Administration bans access to livestreams of unapproved games
• Tencent to cut off Chinese gamers accessing unapproved foreign titles through an internet speed booster
• MMO Business Roundup: China’s freeze, ABK’s new diversity officer, and Sony and Epic’s metaverse
• China’s continued freeze on new gaming approvals sees 14,000 gaming firms in the country shut down
• Steam’s global version appears to have been blocked in China
• Fortnite is closing down in China on November 15
• MMO Business Roundup: China’s crackdown, the COVID bubble, MY.GAMES hires, and the Shatterline leak
• China adds new rules against games with ‘effeminate males’ and ‘blurred moral boundaries’
• Regulators in China and the UK turn their eyes toward streaming, gaming currency
• Tencent, Netease hit with stock losses amid China’s gaming industry clampdown
• China’s new kid gaming time regulations are already causing industry trainwrecks
• China now limits minors’ gaming time to three hours a week, indicates anti-monopoly policies are forthcoming
• Krafton’s IPO launch didn’t go to plan thanks to China and Tencent
• Tencent reacts to Chinese state media calling online games ‘spiritual opium’ by adding new restrictions
• China’s video game regulators introduce a three-tier age rating system for games
• MMO Business Roundup: Tencent facial recognition, Chinese gaming regulation, anti-cheat, and hackers
• China is cracking down on online games and streaming even more with ‘Healthy China 2030’
• China is really adding that youth gaming curfew and block on sex and gore in games
• Lawful Neutral: What’s China really worth to the Western gaming industry?
• Mark Kern didn’t just quit WoW Classic: He accused his old Firefall studio of Chinese corruption
• Newly proposed Chinese gaming regulations target romantic plotlines and sexual content
• Tencent gives up on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds being approved in China
• China reveals new regulatory system for online video games after more than a year of confusion
• MMO Business Roundup: Prince Harry vs Fortnite, China’s big thaw, Gamigo’s new acquisition, and industry transparency
• China puts a freeze on new game approval (again)
• China is approving games again, but none of them is from Tencent or Netease
• China’s Online Games Ethics Committee lifts year-long ‘freeze’ on game licenses but bars multiple games
• Tencent is pulling back its marketing budget in response to China’s ongoing game freeze
• Tencent is expanding draconian ‘healthy gaming’ child blocks across all of its titles
• Tencent is working on locking kids out of Chinese games using facial recognition tech
• Here’s what’s going on with China’s video game approval process in simple terms
• Tencent’s market value dropped by $20B following new Chinese gaming regulation plans
• The World Health Organization advances its ‘gaming disorder’ classification in spite of heavy criticism
• Nexon is heavily affected by China’s new game import laws
• Pokemon Go: Increasing physical activity in the US, blockaded in China
• China bans streaming games not approved by the Ministry of Culture
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