According to a report from Nikkei Asian Review, China has frozen licenses for South Korean game developers planning to release products in the country.
The move is speculated to be in response to a new THAAD missile defense system is South Korea, which is being developed in partnership with the US. China claims this deployment is a threat to their own security, despite the intention reportedly being for South Korea's defense against North Korea.
The ban will affect any and all games yet to be released in China that are developed in South Korea. It's currently unknown how long the ban will last, but some Korean developers are already feeling the burn. Nexon stock, for instance, fell by 7% yesterday following the news. This is because about 40% of their revenue is generated from the Chinese market each year.
Netmarble's Lineage 2: Revolution is among the games that could face problems, as it is currently being translated for the Chinese market. Launching games in China is quite a bit harder than in other parts of the world, as they have to be approved 20 days before launch and must follow a strict set of guidelines to pass the test.
"With rising tensions between the two countries, an unofficial travel ban and blocks against Korean entertainment imports, it's not that surprising that games would be affected eventually," Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad told Pocket Gamer on the ban. "It is unclear at this time how long this ban will last and whether already approved games will have their licenses revoked."
Some of the other large developers in South Korea that could be impacted by this news include NCsoft, who owns both ArenaNet (Guild Wars 2) and Carbine Studios (Wildstar, which was cancelled in China), and Softnyx (producers of Gunbound).
source: pvplive.net/c/china-bans-all-n…-developed-in-south-korea
The move is speculated to be in response to a new THAAD missile defense system is South Korea, which is being developed in partnership with the US. China claims this deployment is a threat to their own security, despite the intention reportedly being for South Korea's defense against North Korea.
The ban will affect any and all games yet to be released in China that are developed in South Korea. It's currently unknown how long the ban will last, but some Korean developers are already feeling the burn. Nexon stock, for instance, fell by 7% yesterday following the news. This is because about 40% of their revenue is generated from the Chinese market each year.
Netmarble's Lineage 2: Revolution is among the games that could face problems, as it is currently being translated for the Chinese market. Launching games in China is quite a bit harder than in other parts of the world, as they have to be approved 20 days before launch and must follow a strict set of guidelines to pass the test.
"With rising tensions between the two countries, an unofficial travel ban and blocks against Korean entertainment imports, it's not that surprising that games would be affected eventually," Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad told Pocket Gamer on the ban. "It is unclear at this time how long this ban will last and whether already approved games will have their licenses revoked."
Some of the other large developers in South Korea that could be impacted by this news include NCsoft, who owns both ArenaNet (Guild Wars 2) and Carbine Studios (Wildstar, which was cancelled in China), and Softnyx (producers of Gunbound).
source: pvplive.net/c/china-bans-all-n…-developed-in-south-korea
