Tencent Will Block Chinese Players From Accessing GTA and Many Other Foreign Games
Tencent has decided to fix a vulnerability in its internet acceleration application that enabled Chinese people to play games not approved by the government in their country. Thus, people who used it lost the chance to play GTA and Animal Crossing.
Earlier this week, we wrote about good news for Chinese gamers, as the Chinese government, which must approve every game that hits the market there, has resumed the licensing process and as a result 45 new titles will be released in the country. However, while this problem is now out of the way, another has already appeared on the horizon.
Application to accelerate internet speed
Games that are not officially approved by the Chinese government, especially those requiring online access, are hard to get in this country, not so much because of direct bans, but because of Internet speed limitations. Local networks are usually too slow to allow for playing banned games.
This problem could be circumvented by using special apps to accelerate internet speed. In 2018, such an application was released by Tencent. It enjoyed quite a lot of popularity among players who wanted to play games that, in theory, are not available in the country. It also became quite an effective channel for foreign manufacturers who wanted to reach users in one of the largest industry markets in the world.
Update will block unapproved games
However, as reported by Reuters agency, the time of this "gray zone" is slowly coming to an end. As reported by Tencent, on May 31st the company will update its mobile and desktop app. One of the elements of this patch is to remove the vulnerability described above and leave only the ability to run titles officially available in the country. People who use Tencent's software can say goodbye to titles like GTA or Animal Crossing.
Tencent refused to comment further on the upcoming changes. However, the situation is widely commented upon by players in China. They are somewhat dismayed, though not surprised. Quoting the statement of one of them, posted on Weibo (via Reuters):
"This was to be expected given the direction everything was heading. It's getting harder every day to be a gamer in China."
Finally, one can still ask the question, what further restrictions might come to China when it comes to the gaming industry? After all, it doesn't look like the policy on unwanted titles has visibly loosened despite the apparent thaw.
