News

China approves 43 games including Black Desert Mobile, Sonic Olympics and Rabbids Adventure Party

Marvel Duel, Mario Rabbids, Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed and more

China approves 43 games including Black Desert Mobile, Sonic Olympics and Rabbids Adventure Party

The Chinese game regulator State Administration of Press and Publication (SAPP) has approved 43 new games for release in the country.

As confirmed by Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad (via Twitter), numerous imports have been sanctioned for China, including massively multiplayer online game (MMO) Black Desert Mobile from Pearl Abyss. Earlier this month, the developer confirmed that the Black Desert franchise had amassed more than $2 billion in lifetime revenue.

Additional mobile titles included Sonic at the Olympics, Dynasty Warriors Unleashed and Marvel Duel. Most notably, League of Legends: Esports Manager was part of the approved list of games. This is the second mobile game based on the popular MOBA and has not seen a release anywhere outside of China.

Chinese exclusive

Outside of mobile, Ubisoft's turn-based tactical RPG Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, alongside the Chinese exclusive Rabbids Adventure Party will be available for Nintendo Switch in the country going forward.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure also became the first PlayStation 5 game to be approved since the console's launch.

The full list of games approved can be viewed here

The Chinese game regulator resumed approving game submissions in March last year, with Supercell's Brawl Stars, Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe all confirmed in the first batch.

Last week, Mojang and Sega partnered together to bring Sonic the Hedgehog to the world of Minecraft.


Deputy Editor

Matthew Forde is the deputy editor at PocketGamer.biz and also a member of the Pocket Gamer Podcast. You can find him on Twitter @MattForde64 talking about stats, data and everything pop culture related - particularly superheroes.