China approves NCsoft, Shift Up games

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China approves NCsoft, Shift Up games

Published: 28 Oct. 2024, 19:15 Updated: 29 Oct. 2024, 17:28

CHO YONG-JUN
cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr

NCsoft's Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Lineage 2M [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Two Korean gaming publishers, NCsoft and Shift Up, received the Chinese government’s approval for their online games last week.

China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the government body that regulates and approves video games, approved 15 games from overseas publishers on Friday.

NCsoft’s Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) Lineage 2M and Shift Up’s third-player shooter game Goddess of Victory: Nikke were the only games from Korean publishers to receive the license.

Video and online games are required to receive a license from NPPA to service the game in mainland China. The NPPA is known to have restricted the entry of Korean games to the country by not giving the license from 2017 to late 2022.

Both games have a big presence in each company’s game lineup, with Goddess of Victory: Nikke accounting for 60 percent of Shift Up’s revenue in the April-June period and Lineage 2M accounting for 20 percent of NCsoft’s mobile game revenue in the same period.

Shift Up shares closed higher Monday at 61,300 won ($44), 5.69 percent higher from the previous session. NCsoft, however, closed 1.41 percent lower at 210,500 won, 3,000 won lower from the previous session.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]