Chinese licence approvals on track to surpass 2023 with 109 domestic games approved this September

• 109 domestic video game licences were approved in China this September
• Tencent was granted approval for a new mobile game

China has granted a further 109 video game licences this September, verging on 1,000 total approvals for 2024 to date.

As reported by South China Morning Post, September’s approvals include NetEase’s Over Field, a mobile title from 37Games and a "mysterious" game from Tencent titled Shou.

Returning to form

China’s licence approvals have seen something of a resurgence over the past two years, moving past the eight-month licence freeze which started in 2021 and is finally warming back up. After only 512 total approvals in 2022, 2023 easily eclipsed this with 1,076 across the year, and 2024 is well on track to reach higher still.

With 959 domestic approvals to date this year and an average of 107 licences granted per month, 2024 may not double its predecessor as 2023 did, but will still most likely come out on top as the best year in some time for government-approved games.

This September was down from the 117 games approved in August, however, it is currently 2024’s strongest month for licence distributions. Even so, 109 licences this month outperformed 2023’s best month of the year, December, when 105 games were approved.

Meanwhile, across 2024 at large, Tencent titles have frequently appeared among the monthly licence approvals with games including Arena: Breakout Infinite, Yirenzhixia, Project: The Outcast, and now Shou.

The latter will be a mobile game and reportedly means "hunting" in Chinese, but Tencent has yet to reveal details about its stage of development and even genre.

Back in July, HoYoverse’s next game Astaweave Haven was confirmed via a licence approval, though again very little is currently known about the upcoming project.