It may no longer be possible to play Fortnite or PUBG in China after findings from a government established group suggests that the titles may violate the country’s social and ethical rules.
20 of the most popular online games in China were included in the supposed review, with 9 of the games suggested to be banned immediately.
China holds strict laws around the display of certain themes in video games, with the most common offences surrounding ‘Overly revealing female characters’, ‘rewards given based on rank’ and an ‘inharmonious chatroom’.
‘Blood and gore’ is also cited as another reason a game could be withdrawn from Chinese consumers. Blizzard and Tencent are the two publishers who feature most on this list, with other popular games including Epic’s Fortnite and Riot Game’s League of Legends.
Take a look at our top upcoming games.
The Chinese game market is huge and the banning of these games in this region could have a significant impact upon the Publishers and Developers involved. This trend is not unprecedented however as it is standard for games to be heavily censored for certain content before they’re allowed to be launched in the Chinese market.
If anything comes of these supposed bans will still remain to be seen, but considering China’s track record in this particular area we wouldn’t be surprised.