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China Halts Special Approval Process for New Games (bloomberg.com)
China's regulators have ended the issuance of game licenses through a stopgap approval process, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The move would close the last known official path for making money from new titles in the world's biggest gaming market. From the report: Licenses are no longer being granted through a process known as the "green channel," used for testing both domestic and foreign games, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The approval mechanism had been in place since at least August, following the government's decision earlier this year to restructure how it reviews video games for violence, gambling and sensitive topics. The new restrictions in the $38 billion market threaten the fortunes of game companies such as Tencent Holdings and NetEase and add to the uncertainty about the Communist Party's long-term plans for regulating the industry. While it's unclear why Beijing has shut that window, the government has stepped up its oversight of an industry it sees fomenting addiction, myopia and other ills among the country's youth. Some analysts had anticipated that the broader freeze would end by September. They had seen the green channel as a temporary solution to carry the industry until then.
. . . game players tend to be independent thinkers, which is what game playing tends to foster.
Can't have any independent thought in a country ruled by Emperor Xi Jinping!
He doesn't strike me as being one with thick skin. That'd be Eeyore.
In fact, fuck most all governments in general. They're all corrupt, full of shit, and generally exist only to preserve and consolidate their own power -- with a hand-waving lip-service paid to serving the people, so long as they shut up and do as they're told. Otherwise you get bullshit like in Syria and China and both North and South Korea.
Of course the real root of the problem is humans. There are too fucking many of us. We need to make about 90% of us disappear, then things will calm the hell down, be manageable, we won't be ass-raping the Earth anymore, and so on. Maybe the best thing that can happen to the human species is a massive die-back from a pandemic or something. Would serve us right.