Chinese Government issues version numbers to 7 S.Korean games

연합뉴스 / 2022-12-29 09:44:19

▲This photo provided by Smilegaet show poster of LostArk. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL December 29 (Yonhap) -- Chinese Government approved number of South Korean games to be serviced in China since they last approved in June of 2021.

National Radio and Television Administration of China addressed through their webpage on Thursday that total of 44 games including 7 of the South Korean games have been approved by the Chinese Government on December 10.

China is currently distributing domestically produced games with the domestic version numbers and for foreign games with foreign version numbers.

Seven of the South Korean games that received Foreign version numbers are SmileGate’s “Lost Ark,” “Epic Seven,” Nexon’s “MapleStory M,” and more.

However, the distribution and actual operation of these games will be in charge of Chinese companies.

So far, South Korea has exported over 48 various games throughout 2014 to 2016, due to regulation and ban against South Korean products, it was nearly impossible for South Korean games to receive foreign version number since 2017.

In December of 2020, Com2us was the first one to ever receive foreign version number with their game “Summoners War” and in June of 2021, Pearl Abyss’ “Black Desert Mobile” received the foreign version number.

Moreover In July of 2021, “Eternal Return” using the IP of Kakao Game’s subsidiary Nimble Neuron received the domestic version number, however it was under the agreement that Chinese service company and development company will be in charge of the development, and Nimble Neuron takes up the royalty.

However, Chinese Government decided to break their own patrimonial act and decided to approve number of South Korean games with foreign version number. Approval of South Korean games are attracting a lot of interest upon potential deregulation of bann on South Korean products.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Joonha Yoo)

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