Kapital Koopas: New Rules for Games in China's App Store, Pokémon and Tencent Announce First Game Collaboration

Press F to pay respects to all the fallen goombas. It's time for a deep dive into China's gaming culture in our new column, Kapital Koopas.

Super Smash Bros gets its first Chinese character

Last month, Super Smash Bros' creator Masahiro Sakurai announced the franchise's newest fighter: Min Min, a Chinese ramen guru who fights with dragonhead canons and springy ramen-like arms. For anyone unfamiliar with the game, it brings together a colorful cast of characters across the Nintendo canon and sometimes from third-party titles even in battle royale-style match-ups. Min Min – who comes from the company's new fighting game franchise Arms – is not only the first Chinese-speaking fighter to be thrown in the ring, but also the first female character to be plucked from a fighting game franchise. 

New regulations settled for games in China's App Store

Last month China's National Press and Publication Administration reached an agreement with Apple reiterating the need for a government-issued ISBN on any game that requires purchasing in China's App Store. As a result, roughly 8,000 games have been pulled from the platform in recent weeks as developers scramble to get approval for their monetized games.

By Jul 1, Apple had already removed 1,386 games, nearly the same amount of ISBNs that the Chinese government issued throughout the entirety of last year. The regulation isn't necessarily new, and Apple had found numerous ways to skirt the requirements in years past. Nevertheless, all paid games and games that contain in-app purchases will now have to comply. Unfortunately, indie developers will suffer the most given that they lack the resources and funds to apply for an ISBN, which is a lengthy and complicated process. Likewise, Apple stands to lose nearly USD 340 million in profit. To be sure, however, this is a drop in the bucket compared to the USD 11.8 billion it raked in from game downloads and in-app purchases last year. 

Tencent’s gaming studio teams up with Pokémon

As one of China's leading game companies, Tencent has been making good on its ambitious plans to expand outside the country over the last few years. After striking a deal with Nintendo to import the Nintendo Switch to mainland China last year, the tech giant has been eager to get something in return. 

As a result, Tencent and the Pokémon Company unveiled a new collaboration last month during an online conference: a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game set in the Pokémon universe. Timi – a Tencent-backed game developer responsible for one of China's most popular MOBA games, Honor of Kings – will be the studio behind the new title. This is the first time that the Pokémon Company will wade into the world of MOBAs, and based on a demo during the conference, its quality seems decent and will certainly delight Pokémon fans. However, all told, it kind of just looks like another Honor of Kings, albeit with Pokémon. Simply put, with two titans like Nintendo and Tencent behind the wheel, this game looks to underwhelm. Given that it's only been a year since the collaboration was first announced, we're holding out hope for better efforts in the future. 

Read: Summer For The Gamer: Celebrate Square Enix's Pop-up Cafe Advent With Cloud and Tifa

Images: Nintendo, Tencent, Gamelook, Tech.Sina