Mobile games on display at the ChinaJoy 2014 event.
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Niko Partners: Chinese regulators have resumed certifying mobile games

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 1 min

After a long interruption, Chinese government regulators have restarted licensing of mobile games, according to market researcher Niko Partners.

In a tweet, Niko said that the stock price of Tencent, the world’s largest game company, saw its stock price rise.

That’s good news for game companies around the world, as China’s regulators have been stalling for months on new game approvals. Developers around the world complained about the shutdown of certification of new games in China. By law, the Chinese government has to approve every game released in the country.

Previously, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television approved games. But it spun off a new group called the State Administration of Radio and TV, which has taken over the game licensing. Another agency, the Ministry of Culture has been approving games since March. But it takes both agencies to get approval, and that has taken months to happen.

Below is a tweet showing stock prices rising for game companies.

Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.