PUBG and Fortnite just got banned by the Chinese government

Violating a country's social and ethical rules could get your game banned too. Out of 20 popular online games submitted for review to the Online Ethics Review Committee established by the Chinese government, 11 were instructed to corrective action to address the committee concerns. 9 of those 11 games failed and are now banned in the country.

Fortnite, PUBG, and many other BR games just got banned by the Chinese government
Updated information: it is not clear if there were any actions enforced by regulators. All the affected companies remain silent (we have contacted them as well) and there is a rumor that Blizzard has denied it officially on China's social site Weibo but the post was deleted afterward. Also, some players report that PUBG and Fortnite are still playable. We should know more in the coming hours and days. That's for sure.

According to a Reddit Thread documenting the review process of this committee. The games on the list are League of legends, Fortnite, PUBG, Overwatch along with many popular titles produced by companies like Tencent and NetEase. Riot's games "overly revealing female characters" and “inharmonious chatroom”, Blizzard’s “game visuals [that] promote incorrect values,” and Diablo’s missions that “include fraud.” are one of the many features that require “corrective action” according to this committee.

Fortnite, PUBG, and many other BR games just got banned by the Chinese government
Meanwhile, games like PUBG, H1Z1, Fortnite got banned for featuring "Blood and Gore". Paladins got itself in the mess too for featuring “overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, and vulgar content.” The only studio that got hurt the most from this is Tencent which got featured six times in the list where Blizzard and NetEase appear three to four times.

And what is Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China behind this whole action? According to Wikipedia:

The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, or CCPPD, is an internal division of the Communist Party of China in charge of ideology-related work, as well as its information dissemination system. It is not formally considered to be part of the Government of the People's Republic of China, but enforces media censorship and control in the People's Republic of China.

It was founded in May 1924, and was suspended during the Cultural Revolution, until it was restored in October 1977. It is an important organ in China's propaganda system, and its inner operations are highly secretive. Its current head is Liu Qibao.

The official aim of the government of this Web censorship are pornography, online gambling and other harmful sites to society. But we know that China can use it as a cover for more severe actions versus other companies.

If you are interested in more stats, figures, frozen games because they must be first approved by the government and other interesting facts about IP protection in the gaming industry, you should read China Briefing article.

However, it is still unclear as this panel responsible for approving or banning games announced on Friday is operating under the auspices of the new body, though that has not been publicly confirmed. Based on the Telegraph's information. What is even more interesting or frightening, the regulation has already cost Tencent (Chinese giant worth these days more than Facebook) over $100 billion. Company offering through its game portal for example Call of Duty, Dungeon Fighter Online, Three Kingdoms or bought companies behind Clash of Clans (Supercell) and League of Legends (Riot Games).

There is just one question remaining. Where does it end? Let's wait and see…

16 Comments

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    This whole leak is apparently fake, they have no intention of banning these games at all. They only ban games prior to being released, and fully review games prior to release in the country.

    Reply
  2. Avatar photo

    fake news, just asked my Chinese friends and it is not true

    Reply
  3. Avatar photo

    This is bs it’s just a game and there’s a reason as to why we have age restrictions, no?

    Reply
  4. Avatar photo

    “According to a reddit thread” (with no source, information coming supposedly from a user which hasn’t commentent, but found information “on another forum”.

     

     

    And you claim this as fact? 0 credibility. On to the next gaming site…

    Reply
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    F***ing china

    Reply
  6. Avatar photo

    This is some terrible reporting. Pubg is still completely playable in China, and citing a REDDIT POST as source is as pathetic as saying you heard it from some guy on the street.

    Reply
  7. Avatar photo

    There is no blood and gore in fortnite?!

    Reply
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    http://fortune.com/2017/11/21/tencent-market-capitalization-500-billion-facebook/

     

     

    The company’s gaming portfolio accounts for roughly $20 billion a year. So unless these “Bans” are going back 5+ years retroactively, they have not cost Tencent $100 billion dollars. Not on the gaming side. Now if these bans also affect the company’s social media platform WeChat, it might be costing them $100 billion dollars, but that would make the writer of this article disingenuous by implying that the money lost was from gaming only.

    Reply
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    Whoever wrote this article needs to fact check a bit. There is no game company worth over $100 billion dollars, Nintendo(the most highly valued) only clocks in at $85 billion dollars, so the idea that China, by itself, has cost Tencent over $100 billion dollars is comical.

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      It’s not just a game company do hero

       

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        If you had paid attention you’d have seen I posted a 2nd time. The fact is, the article implies that the ban has cost them $100 billion through their game portfolio, and that is just straight up not true. Gaming is only 4% of their total networth, clocking in at a paltry $20 billion dollars. Not to mention, none of these games have even been banned, as someone down below us pointed out, it’s not even a ban, it’s a recommendation to the government review board. These games are all still entirely purchasable. So yeah, shoddy article writing here all around.

  10. Avatar photo

    God, I’m glad I don’t live in such a country with such a controlling government, having controlling parents is bad enough.

    Reply
  11. Avatar photo

    This article’s headline and content are based on a misunderstanding of the results of the ethics review board. No game was banned by the Chinese government, the review board just provided suggestions for the government to review and decide whether to implement. These games are all still purchasable and playable in China. I suggest you issue a retraction and correction immediately.

    Reply
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      We are checking and working on it right now…

      Reply
  12. Avatar photo

    B.S, I’m in China and playing ping without issues !

    Reply
    • Avatar photo

      vpn bra?

      Reply

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