China's National Publishing Agency (NPPA) announced on December 28, the issuance of foreign-language editions for 44 games in a year and a half.
Even after THAAD, Summoners War Sky Arena in 2020 and Black Desert Mobilein 2021 were issued, it is meaningful in that it is a large-scale issue including a number of popular IPs. There is a total of seven South Korean games issued this time, including Netmarble's Second Country, A3: Still Alive, Shop Titan, Smilegate's Lost Ark, Epic Seven, Nexon's MapleStory M, and Npixel's Gran Saga.
Domestic games and many global famous games have also been issued. Representatively, Riot Games shooting game Valalant, Pokémon IP-based <Pokemon: Unite>, survival adventure game <Don't Starve>, and Jinga's puzzle game <Empires & Puzzles> were issued, raising expectations for the opening of the Chinese game market.
Two major markets for content that are expected to be favorable
A Researcher of Hana financial Group analyzed that it is expected that the resumption of issuance of foreign capital editions will be a favorable factor for the entire content sector. China is the largest content market along with the United States, and the size of the Chinese game market in 2023 is estimated to be more than 45 trillion won, similar to the size of the United States.
Despite its 22% share in the global game market, Korean game companies have not been able to directly enter China since the Han Dynasty. Only limited monetization in the form of providing game IP to local developers and receiving royalties was possible, but the resumption enabled them to enter through local publishers.
It is especially beneficial for subculture games
China, along with Japan, is the largest subculture market, and the resumption of issuance of editions is expected to be particularly beneficial to domestic subculture game developers. <Wonshin> ranked sixth in China's mobile sales as of the third quarter of 2022, and estimates that the actual sales, including PC/console sales, will be higher. For global subculture games such as Fate and Grand Order and Guardian Tales, China is as major a market as Japan and the United States.
