China reportedly halts applications for new game licenses
It also did this in August, which caused quite a backlog.
China's media regulators have stopped accepting applications for new games.
China is again pushing pause on video games as it works through a backlog of applications caused by an earlier halt to new game licenses.
The country's media regulators have stopped accepting new applications for commercial video game licenses, according to a Financial Times' report published on Wednesday. Central regulators reportedly haven't accepted applications since September.
This comes after China in August halted the approval of new game licenses due to a "restructuring of power" in government agencies.
While China's media regulating agency, the State Administration of Press and Publications, reportedly resumed approving commercial game licenses in December, developers will have to wait for the current backlog to get approved in order for the license application process to move forward, according to Financial Times. The agency has reportedly approved over 500 games since December, including Tencent's Perfect World Mobile, but new games will have to wait to debut.
Tencent, one of the biggest game developers in China, reportedly lost over $160 billion in market value in the first half of 2018, and smaller companies were struggling to survive, according to Bloomberg.
China's State Administration of Press and Publications didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.