China is using game approvals as a policy dial
Every game published in China needs a government license called a banhao (版号). China cut the number it issued sharply in 2018 and 2021, and has raised it every year since 2022. The size of each batch signals the state's mood toward games.
What is a banhao?
A banhao (版号) is the license a game needs before it can make money in China. It is issued by the NPPA, China's publishing regulator. Only a Chinese publisher can hold one, so a foreign studio has two choices: team up with a local partner or skip China entirely.
Latest figure · 2026 so far
1,110 licenses
Domestic licenses approved in 2026 through the July batch, with 37 imported titles beside them. Niko Partners expects the year to pass 2,000 in all.
Where it stands
China approved 1,676 domestic games in 2025, up from 468 in the freeze year of 2022, and Niko Partners expects 2026 to pass 2,000 licenses in all. Approvals stopped for nine months in 2018 and for eight months from August 2021, and about 14,000 small studios and related firms closed that year. Foreign games come through a thinner channel: 95 were approved in 2025. What follows approval, identity checks and limits on children's play, is on the playtime-caps page.
Approvals fell to 468 in the freeze year of 2022 and have risen every year since, to 1,676 in 2025. The 2026 column runs to July.
~Derived, not stated: TechNode wrote that 2022's 468 domestic licenses were a third of 2020's, which puts 2020 at about 1,404. No source read prints the year's total.
~Derived, not stated: TechNode wrote that 2022's 468 domestic licenses were 38% fewer than 2021's, which puts 2021 at about 755. Approvals stopped from August 2021 to April 2022.
*Domestic licenses approved in 2026 through the July batch, with 37 imported titles beside them. Niko Partners expects the year to pass 2,000 in all.
SourceNPPA batches, tallied by Niko Partners (February 2020)
| Year | Domestic game licenses approved, by year |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 1,385 |
| 2020 | ~1,404 |
| 2021 | ~755 |
| 2022 | 468 |
| 2023 | 977 |
| 2024 | 1,306 |
| 2025 | 1,676 |
| 2026* | 1,110 |
Timeline
2017
More than 8,500 licenses, a third of them poker and mahjong
China licensed more than 8,500 games in 2017, and 37% of them were poker and mahjong titles, a category the regulator would stop approving after the freeze that followed.
Niko Partners, Game regulations in China: everything you need to know (February 2020)
2018
A nine-month halt while the regulator is rebuilt
Approvals halted on 28 March 2018 while the state reorganized its publishing regulator, now the National Press and Publication Administration, or NPPA. They did not restart until 19 December, when a first batch of 80 domestic games was licensed.
2019
Approvals stay a fraction of the old volume
The first full year under the new regime licensed 1,570 games, 1,385 domestic and 185 foreign, against an average of 641 a month before the freeze. TechNode's verdict was that approvals had failed to return to pre-freeze levels.
TechNode, Game approvals failed to return to pre-freeze levels last year (2 January 2020)
2021
A second freeze
Approvals stopped again in August 2021, after 675 licenses in the seven months before, and stayed stopped for eight months.
TechNode, China resumes issuing new gaming licenses after 8 months (12 April 2022)
2022
The thinnest year on record
Approvals resumed on 12 April 2022 with 45 domestic games, and the year closed at 468 domestic licenses, 38% fewer than 2021 and a third of 2020. The first imported titles in a year and a half, 44 of them, came in a single December batch.
TechNode, Tencent and NetEase secure major game approvals at the end of 2022 (29 December 2022)
2023
Draft rules, then a record batch to calm the market
Draft online-game rules published on 22 December 2023 wiped about $46 billion off Tencent and $17 billion off NetEase in a day. Three days later the NPPA approved 105 domestic games, the first batch over a hundred, to show what it called a supportive stance.
2024
The most licenses in five years
The NPPA licensed 1,416 games in 2024, 1,306 domestic and 110 imported, the most in five years.
TechNode, China approves 135 games in December (25 December 2024)
2025
Shanghai's pilot treats foreign-made games as domestic
Shanghai's measures for the software industry, published in July 2025, include a pilot under which games developed by foreign companies in Shanghai may be treated as domestic titles, bypassing the import approval process.
TechNode, New Shanghai policy may accelerate foreign game approvals in China (10 July 2025)
1,771 in 2025, up a quarter
The NPPA approved 1,771 games in 2025, 1,676 domestic and 95 imported, up 25% on 2024 at around 147 a month, with the final batch issued on 25 December.
Niko Partners, China's NPPA approved 1,771 video games in 2025 (15 January 2026)
2026
2026 on course to pass 2,000
July's batch of 197 took 2026 to 1,110 domestic and 37 imported licenses by the end of the month, and Niko Partners expects the year to pass 2,000 in all.
Niko Partners, China approves 197 video games in July 2026 (30 July 2026)
Consequences
012022
A freeze closes studios, not just games
TechNode reported that about 14,000 small studios and gaming-related firms went out of business in 2021, the year approvals stopped in August.
TechNode, China's gaming industry is downsizing in game license freeze (23 February 2022)
022023
The size of a batch is a message
Three days after draft rules in December 2023 wiped about $46 billion off Tencent and $17 billion off NetEase, the NPPA approved 105 games in one batch, the first over a hundred, to demonstrate what it called a supportive stance.
032023
Foreign games queue in a pipe that can be closed
Foreign titles come through a separate and thinner pipe, and it can be shut for reasons that have nothing to do with games. No game from Korea was approved between March 2017 and December 2020, and imports as a whole were frozen for a year and a half until December 2022.
Niko Partners, China 2023 game licenses on track to surpass 2021 and 2022 (4 April 2023)
Objections
Counterpoint2026
More licenses does not mean an open door
Of the 1,771 games approved in 2025, 95 were imported. Almost all of the rise since 2022 has gone to Chinese-made games, so a dial turned up at home is not the same as a market opened to foreign studios.
Niko Partners, China's NPPA approved 1,771 video games in 2025 (15 January 2026)
Counterpoint2020
2017 is not the baseline it looks like
The fall from 2017 is overstated by the count. Of that year's 8,500 licenses, 37% were poker and mahjong titles the regulator stopped approving after the freeze, so part of the drop is a category leaving the ledger, not games being refused. The chart starts in 2019 for that reason.
Niko Partners, Game regulations in China: everything you need to know (February 2020)
What to watch
2026
A foreign game licensed as domestic under Shanghai's pilot
Shanghai's pilot has yet to produce a foreign-developed game licensed as a domestic title. One would open a route around the import queue for studios willing to develop in the city.
TechNode, New Shanghai policy may accelerate foreign game approvals in China (10 July 2025)
2027
Whether 2026 passes 2,000
January 2027, when Niko Partners usually publishes its tally of the year. Passing 2,000 licenses would make 2026 the biggest year since the 2018 freeze.
Niko Partners, China approves 197 video games in July 2026 (30 July 2026)
Further reading
- AnalysisChina's NPPA approved 1,771 video games in 2025substack.nikopartners.com
- CommunityChinese gacha games recorded an 8.97% decline, despite growth in the gaming industry as a wholereddit.com
- PrimaryChina Game Approval (Banhao) requirements for apps in CN, 2026clearlaunch.dev
Where to follow it Niko Partners' monthly approval trackers, TechNode, Digital Policy Alert, SCMP
- Old games take most of players' time
- Older players are a large audience the industry overlooks
- Campaigners are pressing to keep sold games playable
- Players are using review scores as a protest vote
- Regulators are age-gating loot boxes
- Governments are weighing legal caps on children's playtime
- Children's privacy rules are nudging games toward checking every player's age
- Problem-gaming research is shifting from hours to compulsion