Image Credits: wccftech
In a sudden move, `Chinese government’s ‘Online Ethics Review Committee’ is rumoured to have banned nine popular online games including Fortnite and PUBG for “promoting incorrect values.” Additionally, the publishers of 11 other online game titles including League of Legends, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch were instructed to commit corrective actions and remove or make changes to “ethically questionable content”
Dota 2 and CS:GO have presumably complied with the Online Ethics Review Committee’s regulations and have not been named in either list.
The rumour appears to have originated in popular Chinese gaming forum NGA, and was later translated and uploaded on Reddit by ZeroWolfe547. The leaked list of games which are reportedly facing repercussions from the ‘Online Ethics Review Committee’ can be found below.
Game |
Cause |
Recommended Action |
Paladins (Hi-Rez) |
Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content. |
Prohibited/Withdraw |
Knives Out (NetEase) |
Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content. |
Prohibited/Withdraw |
Free Fire Battlegrounds (Garena) |
Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content. |
Prohibited/Withdraw |
PlayerUnknown's Battleground (Bluehole) |
Blood and gore. |
Prohibited/Withdraw |
Ring of Elysium (Tencent) |
Blood and gore, vulgar content. |
Prohibited/Withdraw |
H1Z1 (Daybreak) |
Blood and gore, vulgar content. |
Prohibited/Withdraw |
Fortnite (Epic) |
Blood and gore, vulgar content. |
Prohibited/Withdraw |
Alliance of Valiant Arms (Red Duck) |
Blood and gore, vulgar content. |
Prohibited/Withdraw |
Quantum Matrix (NetEase) |
Blood and gore, vulgar content, inharmonious chat |
Prohibited/Withdraw |
Code: Eva (Tencent) |
Rewards given based on rank, distorted concepts of history and culture. |
Corrective action |
League of Legends (Riot) |
Overly revealing female characters, rewards given based on rank, inharmonious chatroom. |
Corrective action |
Arena of Valor (Tencent) |
Overly revealing female characters, rewards given based on rank, distorted concepts of history and culture. |
Corrective action |
World of Warcraft (Blizzard) |
Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom. |
Corrective action |
Blade & Soul (NCSOFT) |
Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom. |
Corrective action |
Chu Liu Xiang (NetEase) |
Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom, game missions include fraud. |
Corrective action |
Westward Journey (NetEase) |
Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom, distorted concepts of history and culture. |
Corrective action |
The Legent of Mir 3 (WeMade) |
Inharmonious chatroom. |
Corrective action |
Swords of Legends Online (Aurogon) |
Inharmonious chatroom. |
Corrective action |
Diablo (Blizzard) |
Inharmonious chat, game missions include fraud. |
Corrective action |
Overwatch (Blizzard) |
Game visuals promote incorrect values, inharmonious chatroom. |
Corrective action |
Credits: Translated from this table, by reddit user ZeroWolfe547
From what information is currently available, we can digress that this is only a rumour and should be treated as such. However, if this leaked list turns out to be accurate, then it would be a massive blow to NetEase, Blizzard and Tencent, with 3, 4 and 6 games marked down respectively.
While Valve with no repercussions can look to expand into the Chinese with the imminent launch of Steam China and perhaps expand their player base in CS:GO and Dota 2.