Netease CEO calls fake news on China's game ban- PingWest

Netease CEO calls fake news on China's game ban- PingWest

Netease CEO calls fake news on China's game ban

September 10, 2021 5:11 pm

Discussions about China's alleged halt on new online game approvals went viral yesterday. According to a highly compressed screenshot, which is proved to be NetEase's internal forum, Netease CEO William Ding Lei dismissed the rumor to his colleagues yet didn't explain further. Although it is unclear which part of the news Ding Lei referred to, the screenshot he posted contains two key points -- "china's halt on game approvals" and "regulators made cutting the number of games a priority."

Screenshot from NetEase's internal forum

SCMP, the first news outlet to mention the alleged halt, has revised its story from "suspend approvals" to "slow approvals" earlier today. Chinese authorities have not yet commented or released any information about possible changes to the game approval process. However, shares of big gaming companies in China have suffered a fall -- Tencent and Bilibili fell by over 8%, while NetEase fell by over 11%.

Context:

The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), a government agency in charge of issuing video game licenses for all games in China, typically publishes approved games either in the middle or at the end of each month. The NPPA has not published the list for August yet as a senior employee at a gaming company with more than ten years of experience pointed out. Following new regulations published on Aug 30th, gaming companies might need extra time to file again to comply with new "anti-addiction" rules.

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