New rules may put up barriers to games on Apple's App Store in China

Developers looking to publish games on Apple's Chinese App Store will reportedly face a tougher time starting July 1, when all new mobile games must be pre-approved by the Chinese government.

Every such title, foreign or domestic, will have to be vetted by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), Tech in Asia noted. While independent developers may be able to handle the approval process on their own, it's estimated that those wanting or needing help with the process may end up paying third-party firms between $2,000 and $5,000.

Any game already on sale must have an application for SAPPRFT approval submitted by Oct. 1.

The rules allow domestic developers to go through a simplified process as long as they submit their formal application at least 20 business days in advance, and their games are casual titles with little to no storyline, and moreover don't contain any politically or socially sensitive elements. Approval can — ideally — be granted within an 18-day time span.

Games that fall outside of this criteria, including all foreign titles, don't have a defined timetable for approval.

The rules will likely delay the arrival of many apps on the iOS App Store, where they already have to pass an official Apple screening process. The company has been working to drastically speed up app reviews, however.

8 Comments

radarthekat 3902 comments · 12 Years

About 8 years ago

So one article, the one on differential privacy, makes mention of another player in the market, namely Google. But this article specifically mentions only Apple, no other players in the Chinese app store market. Surely games on all the independent Android app stores in China will also need to be approved.

dachar 330 comments · 11 Years

I am guessing but say there is a new hit game from the USA or Europe and then a game is produced in China that looks similar, the local Chinese copy could get approved much quicker than the original one from the USA or Europe. Is this an unfair restriction on trade?

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

radarthekat said:

So one article, the one on differential privacy, makes mention of another player in the market, namely Google. But this article specifically mentions only Apple, no other players in the Chinese app store market. Surely games on all the independent Android app stores in China will also need to be approved.

Well, journalism used to be about presenting the bigger picture, context, information. These days it’s about creating an impression, a point of view. So yes, only Apple’s app store has these new restrictions. Android developers have total free reign to put up anything they desire. Or so it would seem.

daven 719 comments · 16 Years

dachar said:

I am guessing but say there is a new hit game from the USA or Europe and then a game is produced in China that looks similar, the local Chinese copy could get approved much quicker than the original one from the USA or Europe. Is this an unfair restriction on trade?

Probably worse. All foreign games will have a never ending approval delay to give time for Chinese companies time to replicate them and be quickly approved.