Tag: China

China Clamps Down On Child Spending, Adult Gambling In Games


Sorry industry!

China, a country famous for its friendliness toward entertainment media, has officially begun cracking down on the gaming industry in the name of protecting vulnerable citizens. As reported by NPR, the move outlines six initiatives to prevent minors from indulging in online games. Minors are restricted to playing 90 minutes of video games every day except national holidays when that limit goes up to three hours. In addition, minors will be limited to spending $28 or $57 per month depending on age and can not game between the hours of 10p.m. and 8:00a.m.

But the restrictions don’t just apply to kids. All Chinese gamers will be prohibited from enjoying games depicting sex, gore, violence, and gambling.

China’s new directives implicate adult gamers too. A state spokesperson says that everyone, regardless of age, is prohibited from playing games that depict “sexual explicitness, goriness, violence and gambling.”

No word on how loot boxes fit into the depiction of gambling.

Source: NPR via MassivelyOP

Angry Blizzard Employees Cover “All Voices Matter” Sign


Today has not been great for Blizzard following the company’s decision to silence and ban a Hearthstone competitor during the Grandmaster tournament after he expressed support for Hong Kong during a live interview. In their attempt at damage control, Blizzard released a statement and then shut down comments on the website. The Blizzard Reddit has been locked.

The Hearthstone Reddit is flooded with players proclaiming that they are professionally done with Blizzard. The Blizzard boycott is trending #11 on Twitter. Now employees are making their dissatisfaction known. As posted by Kevin Hovdestad on Twitter, Blizzard employees came into work this morning and made their disagreement with management’s decisions known by covering up the company’s “Think Globally” and “Every Voice Matters” signs.

With Blizzcon coming in just a few weeks, Blizzard’s response to the spiraling outrage will be interesting.

Rant: Blizzard Robs Hearthstone Player Of Winnings To Appease China


Another day, another Activision subsidiary acting in a heartless, sociopathic manner.

The Hearthstone 2019 Grandmasters took place this week, and very likely the only thing the public will remember of it once all is said and done is that Blizzard once again kowtowed to an abusive dictatorship because that sweet, sweet cash is just to hard to pass up. Oh and depending on who you ask the Chinese public is one of the only things keeping the dreadful Overwatch League capable of presenting any numbers to rake in those sign on fees.

In case you’ve been living under a rock or more likely sleeping for these past six or seven hours, Blizzard is taking some blows to the noggin after how they handled one of their competitors in the Hearthstone Grandmasters. Pro player Chung “blitzchung” Ng Wai went on an interview in which he shouted “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our age!” In case you’ve really been living under a rock, feel free to peruse this BBC summary of the last few months.

Blizzard’s response was to immediately act like the regime it bowed to and take out not only blitzchung but any witnesses within reach. The company released a statement that not only has Blitzchung been removed from the Grandmasters and banned for one year, but that his winnings will be forfeited for offending the dear leaders of China, and as the only other people on screen at the time of the statement, the two hosts would be fired as well.

“Effective immediately, Blitzchung is removed from Grandmasters and will receive no prizing for Grandmasters Season 2. Additionally, Blitzchung is ineligible to participate in Hearthstone esports for 12 months beginning from Oct. 5th, 2019 and extending to Oct. 5th, 2020. We will also immediately cease working with both casters.”

Yea, the guys who dove under the table to hide from the comments? They need to be punished for their…crimes. Blizzard justifies the firing by pointing to this provision of their player agreement, and sure. Why not. They also zapped the VOD from their website so people (read: China) might not hear the offending words.

Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image will result in removal from Grandmasters and reduction of the player’s prize total to $0 USD, in addition to other remedies which may be provided for under the Handbook and Blizzard’s Website Terms. 

Is Blizzard within their legal right to fire the player? I’ll give a 99% vote of confidence that yes if brought before a court that Blizzard would come out victorious. Obviously the company knows that their decision won’t go down well considering Tencent owns a stake in Activision and this isn’t the first time Blizzard has flushed its integrity down the toilet to appease a violent dictatorship. They have completely silenced any direct response to the article. This hasn’t stopped the Hearthstone Reddit from blowing up in anger and announcing that they are quitting the game.

I’d like to leave Blizzard with a thought, like Andy Rooney might. The world will move on but in three weeks you will be hosting Blizzcon. If you thought your employees shouting “do you not have phones” was embarrassing, just wait until people get up to that microphone and start grilling them on the really tough questions.

Oh and to the game bloggers who might be drafting up those articles to put up a defensive wall around Blizzard and China. You’re being watched.

Otherwise I have no opinion on the matter.

[Not Massive] Gaijin Throws Taiwan Under Bus For Chinese Gov’t


A game developer doing something scummy to appease an oppressive dictatorship? Must be a day ending in WHY.

In the world of developers doing stupid things, if you push past the western AAA industry of Electronic Arts and Valve and make your way toward the back of the room, you might spot Gaijin Entertainment.

Back in 2015, Gaijin’s producer Pavel Kulikov got caught pulling an extortion scheme against a Youtuber, threatening the guy’s livelihood in return for positive coverage of the game. Kulikov was fired and Gaijin denied any knowledge or involvement in the plan. But Gaijin doesn’t understand public relations, or just doesn’t give a toss, since in 2018 the next scandal popped up with an official content partner referring to players as puny beggars, hoping that they drown in their own bile.

In today’s scandal, Gaijin has been accused of kissing up to the People’s Republic with the outright removal of Taiwan Republic of China flags from the China tech tree in the game War Thunder. The move has been painted by members of the community as an attempt to “suck the toes” (in a manner of speaking) of the Chinese government and is related to recent heightened tensions surrounding the One China policy, by which China does not recognize Taiwan as independent.

So far there has been no comment from Gaijin. The megathread on Reddit has gathered over 500 comments and 4.7k upvotes. This comes two years after Gaijin was accused of cutting story content to appease the Chinese government, involving the Japanese invasion of China in 1939.

Source: Reddit

[Rant] Another Day, PUBG Tries To Claim Ownership of “Chicken Dinner”


It must be a day ending with Y, because PUBG Corp is once again trying to fraudulently claim ownership to something it definitely didn’t create.

If PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has anything to tell us here at MMO Fallout about Brendan Greene, it’s a tale of a man deluded by his own creation. While nobody would argue the success of PUBG and that the game popularized the Battle Royale genre and made way for the titles that follow, it’s hard to get past the vast delusion of PUBG Corp. and its dreams of owning just about everything related to video games.

In its grandiose claims, PUBG Corp made bold-faced lies to the Korean courts and attempted to present a history that they were the first game to use a frying pan in a comedic fashion in a shooter (they weren’t). They go on in the lawsuit to claim ownership of everything from health bars to grenades, two story tall buildings, real-world weapons, and more. We’ve seen various thinly veiled claims from Greene and PUBG Corp. that would imply a belief that they deserve royalty payments from any game in the Battle Royale genre, as well as consultation from developers who might dare to create a title that PUBG Corp didn’t. All this despite PUBG Corp apparently having no problem plagiarizing from other sources.

Of course it should also be noted that of the parties present, only Bluehole has seen employees be criminally convicted and sentenced to prison for stealing from other developers.

But now PUBG is getting in a fight with the Chinese Intellectual Property Administration and once again it is over claims to something they didn’t create. PUBG Corp. is suing over the phrase “winner winner chicken dinner” which they are attempting to trademark. The trademark was rejected as it isn’t a formal business trademark, and now PUBG is taking the government to court. The phrase has been in existence since before 100% of the employees at PUBG Corp. have been alive, but that isn’t going to stop their lawyers from frivolously claiming ownership of what very clearly isn’t theirs.

I will follow up as soon as PUBG Corp. attempts to claim copyright ownership of the concept of people bleeding from gunshot wounds.

Other than that, I have no opinion on the matter.

Tim Sweeney: Tencent Not A Parent Company, Offline Mode Coming 2019


Epic Founder Tim Sweeney took to Reddit last week to clarify a few things regarding the Epic Store and what role Tencent has to play in it. The original poster in the thread laid down a number of accusations against Epic and Ubisoft, among others, over questionable practices. Included in the list was the allegation that Epic is collecting data to hand over to its “parent company” Tencent and thus the Chinese government.

“Their TOS states they have the right to monitor you and send the data to their parent company. And who is Epic’s parent company? The Chinese dev that’s known for spying for the Chinese government. Tencent. The same Tencent who’s working hand in hand with the Chinese Government to work on tools to spy on their own citizens. Escentially Epic Games is owned by the Chinese Government.”

Sweeney showed up later in the comments to refute that Tencent is a parent company, as Sweeney himself is the controlling shareholder. Tencent owns a minority investment in Epic Games and does not have access to any customer data. He posted in the same thread responding to a user asking if the Epic store will have an offline mode, confirming that it will be released in “early 2019” for games that are playable offline.

Comment from discussion Ubisoft needs to stop with this Always Online bullshit; Epic Games Store is literal Spyware and worse..

https://www.redditstatic.com/comment-embed.js

Source: Reddit

Chinese Government Reviews 20 Games, Passes None of Them


This month marks the establishment of the Chinese Online Ethics Review Committee, a government organization tasked with reviewing online games and determining if they are fit for sale in China in guidance with the country’s ethical rules. Confirmed by Tencent in August, China instituted an approval freeze around March of this year for games being sold within the country until the government can establish newer guidelines on approving or banning certain titles.

Of 20 popular titles to be reviewed, none of them passed muster. Judging from the list of games and the reasons for their refusal, most of the problem stem from blood and gore, vulgar content, overly revealing female characters, and ‘inharmonious chat.’ Incidentally, titles like Diablo and Chu Liu Xiang were also refused for “missions including fraud.” Of the twenty titles, eleven were held for corrective action while nine were prohibited outright and are presumably banned. PUBG, Fortnite, H1Z1, and Paladins are in the list of titles prohibited under these new guidelines.

These guidelines are hardly new, as in 2017 PUBG faced a ban over deviating from socialist core values. Tencent has seen a hit to its net worth as China due to the crackdown, and Ubisoft took a lot of heat last month after it attempted to globally censor and remove content from Rainbow Six: Siege in preparation for a Chinese launch.

Tencent Prepares To Take On Steam


Tencent appears to be aiming at PC juggernaut Valve by globalizing its own Steam-esque platform and rebranding as WeGame. Already massive in comparison to Steam, 200 million users in China compared to Steam’s 125 million worldwide, Tencent’s website indicates that the new WeGame platform will support global players on one client, expanding westward and introducing millions more to its ever expanding control of the market. The news comes from a splash page on Tencent’s website, translated and discussed by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad.

For those vaguely familiar with Tencent’s name, the company owns League of Legends developer Riot Games and Clash of Clans developer Supercell. Its stock is currently worth around $30 USD, putting its value around the level of Sony ($31.79) and Nintendo ($30.41). Last month Tencent released its December quarter earnings, boasting 43.9 billion Yuan, $6.3 billion USD. If anyone has the finances to get a foot in the west and put the fear of God in Valve, it is probably Tencent.

(Source: Twitter)

Jagex Plays Pivotal Role In New Publicly Listed Games Company


scapefix

Back in July, I reported that Jagex had been acquired by Chinese investors, and that the deal would mean the formation of a new company. Today, Jagex has finally unveiled that the acquisition is moving forward and that the new publicly listed company will be called Zhongji Holding. Rod Cousens, who took over as CEO after the departure of Mark Gerhard, will continue his role as CEO, Chairman, and member of the Board of Directors for the foreseeable future.

“Zhongji Holding has great ambition in the gaming space and Jagex is at the forefront of its charge. China is the biggest gaming market in the world and Zhongji Holding’s motivation in the sector will prove a compelling proposition for other gaming businesses seeking access to the region. While an integral part of Zhongji Holding’s plans, Jagex’s operations remain unchanged and its business as usual for our games, players and our employees.”

Also revealed in this statement is that Jagex’s 2015 revenues hit an all time high of $88.4 million with $36.1 million in profits.

(Source: Jagex Press Release)

Red 5 Studios Shareholder L&A International Is Effectively Worthless


value

When is a Chinese cashmere seller relevant to the gaming industry? When they hold 30% equity in one of the developers. L&A International Holdings Ltd is not only a mouthful, a few months ago they traded for 30.6% equity interest in Red 5, developer of the ever-struggling MMO Firefall. If you’re interested in buying stocks in L&A International, you can’t. The company has been suspended from the Hong Kong stock exchange and its stock is effectively worthless.

At the request of L&A International Holdings Limited (the ‘‘Company’’), trading in the shares of the Company on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited has been halted from 1:14 p.m. on Friday, 22 July 2016 pending the release of an announcement in relation to inside information.

Shares for L&A International Holdings Ltd had dropped to .02 HKD, or slightly over a quarter of a penny USD. L&A International plans on placing more shares in the coming days. The news of their hardship precedes this week’s news that Red5 Studios appears to have undergone another round of layoffs. Community manager FadedPez posted the following on this Twitter:

Firefall’s last update was in May, and the game appears to be bleeding users at a steadily increasing rate over the last four months or so. Looking at its troubled past, it only seems to be a matter of time before the team (what is left of them) throw in the towel.