The companies also vowed to ban the kind of content authorities have denounced, such as “sissy men,” “gay love,” “money worship,” and anything seen as “politically harmful” or “historically nihilistic.” Beijing’s efforts to police morality extends to film and tv: last week, the country’s broadcasting authority called on networks and streamers to show only “excellent cartoons” that “promote truth, goodness, and beauty.”
As part of their pledge, the companies say they will “resolutely boycott circumventing regulatory procedures and using overseas gaming platforms to provide services to domestic users.” Foreign companies like Steam currently operate in the country, presenting potential loopholes in the ever-tightening rules.
The industry has been under fire for months. In early August, a state-run paper said online video games had become a “spiritual opium worth hundreds of billions.” Tencent’s Honor of Kings was singled out, and the company subsequently announced restrictions on how long minors could play its online games, presaging the sweeping rules that later came into effect.
Chinese game properties aren’t only relevant in China. Honor of Kings is inspired by the popular online game League of Legends, which is developed and published by the Tencent-owned Riot Games. An animated series based on League of Legends titled Arcane will come to Netflix later this year.
Image at top: “Honor of Kings”
