China has granted tech giant Tencent its first licence for a video game in 18 months, ending a dry spell that had threatened its position as the world's top game maker.

Beijing moved against the country's vibrant gaming sector last year as part of a sprawling crackdown on big tech companies, including a cap on the amount of time children could spend playing games.

Officials also froze approvals of new titles for nine months until April.

China's gaming regulator, the National Press and Publication Administration, on Thursday said it had approved 70 new titles in November including Tencent's action game "Metal Slug: Awakening" and a role-playing game "Journey to the West: Return" by rival NetEase.

Licences are mandatory for video games to be published and sold in the Chinese market.

The last time Tencent obtained a major licence was in May 2021.

A Tencent subsidiary received a licence in September but it was for a free educational game.

Shares in the Hong Kong-listed company closed up more than 0.5 percent on Friday after the licensing announcement, while NetEase gained more than 3.6 percent.

The approval signals a relaxing of China's strict attitude towards tech companies.

During the crackdown, hundreds of game makers pledged to scrub "politically harmful" content from their products and enforce curbs on underage players to comply with government demands.

Restrictions announced last year allow players under the age of 18 to play for three hours a week.

prw-tjx/je/axn

Tencent

Related Links
Space Technology News - Applications and Research

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

ESA experiences COP27 using a space-empowered metaverse
Paris (ESA) Nov 16, 2022
ESA has created a space-inspired virtual environment to enable its workforce to experience the COP27 climate summit - which is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - without the environmental cost of travelling. This metaverse showcase - connected over the internet and satellite-enabled 5G - provides another demonstration of the potential of next-generation communications, showing how the resilient, ubiquitous, and seamless connectivity delivered by converged networks could transform virtual colla ... read more