China Approves 1,771 Games in 2025, Highest Since 2018

China approved 1,771 games for release in 2025, marking a sharp increase from the previous year and the country’s highest annual total since 2018. The approvals were issued by the National Press and Publication Administration of China (NPPA), underscoring a continued recovery in the world’s largest regulated gaming market.

According to NPPA data, the 2025 total represents roughly a quarter more licenses than in 2024, when 1,400 games were approved. Of the 1,771 titles cleared this year, 1,676 were developed by domestic studios, while foreign projects accounted for just 95 approvals, highlighting the continued dominance of Chinese developers within the licensing system.

China Game Approvals Reach Strongest Level Since Licensing Freeze

The 2025 figure is the highest annual approval count since 2018, when 2,095 games were licensed. 

In the years that followed, approval volumes fell sharply amid tighter regulation, including a full pause on new licenses from July 2021 to April 2022. Approvals for foreign-developed games were frozen for even longer, resuming only in December 2022, which significantly constrained totals in 2021 and 2022.

The higher volume in 2025 reflects a return to a more stable approval cadence after licensing activity normalized in 2023 and strengthened further in 2024. 

As noted by the South China Morning Post, approval numbers have now reached levels not seen in more than half a decade.

Among the foreign titles (machine translated) approved in 2025 were Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Path of Exile 2, Dave the Diver, Rush Royale, Diablo IV, Destiny: Rising, and Hustle Castle, indicating a cautious but ongoing reopening to international releases.

The scale of approvals in 2025 signals improved regulatory predictability for publishers and developers, reinforcing China’s role as a critical market for both domestic studios and select global game franchises.