A couple of weeks ago, Chinese authorities dropped a bit of a bomb on the mobile gaming industry. Starting on July 1, every mobile game being launched in China has to be pre-approved by the State Administration for Press, Publications, Radio, Film, and Television (SAPPRFT). There are no exceptions.
The lengthy and complicated approval process is likely to waste a lot of time and energy for China’s major mobile game developers. But for small indie studios and solo game developers, it could be an absolute disaster.
The barrier of entry to China’s mobile gaming market has been raised.
Small indie and solo game developers typically don’t have the resources or connections to complete the approval process themselves. Sure will figure out a way to muddle through on their own, of course, but it’s going to be a major barrier. And for those that can’t cross it, the only other option is to hire a third party to help with your application. That market is in its infancy, but the early signs look terrible for indie devs. China’s IT Times reports that getting that approval taken care of by a third party will cost between US$2,000 and US$5,000 depending on the type of game you’re applying with.
That’s totally doable if you’re a profitable SME, but it would be extremely tough for a true indie dev to shoulder that kind of extra up-front cost. It might be possible to sneak unapproved Android games online without SAPPRFT approval (since an APK file can be posted anywhere), it will likely prove difficult to monetize an illegal game.
The end result, then, is that the barrier of entry to China’s mobile gaming market has been raised. The chances of a Chinese solo developer – some whiz kid in his or her dorm room – scoring the next big mobile gaming hit have diminished substantially. Thanks to SAPPRFT’s new rules, all developers have to wander through a minefield of red tape or cough up a sizable chunk of change to get someone else to do it for them. True indie devs are likely to stop bothering with games and focus their attention on other app types where the barriers to entry aren’t so high.
