TAIPEI, TAIWAN —
Chinese authorities approved 105 new online games this week, bolstering support for the industry just days after proposing regulatory restrictions that sent stocks tumbling.
The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) announced approval of the 105 games Monday via WeChat, describing the move as a show of support for "the prosperity and healthy development of the online game industry.
"It was only Friday that those same regulators announced a wide range of proposed guidelines to ban online game companies from offering incentives for daily logins or purchases. Other proposed rules include limiting how much users can recharge and issuing warnings for "irrational consumption behavior."
The draft rules, which were published as part of efforts to seek public comment on the proposals, caused an immediate, massive blow to the world’s biggest games market, leading to as much as $80 billion in market value being erased from China’s two biggest companies, industry leader Tencent Holdings and NetEase.
