Tencent & video game content restrictions

[Agema]

So, I read that Tencent has snapped up another developer for a huge sum, just after I read an article about getting games into China.

The article seemed to suggest that it was very difficult to get games published in China due to its censorship laws (and indeed whether a great number of games are already being written in such a way that they escape strict Chinese censorship). The article suggested two views of Tencent. The first is a useful partner that allows companies to get assistance for their game releases and market access in China. The other that is it is able to use its good relations with the Chinese authorities to force its way into Western companies, who otherwise struggle to access the ever-growing Chinese market. And when I saw a list of the companies Tencent has a finger in... it's very large.

So, the main thrusts of the questions:
1) Is Tencent (in video gaming, I know it does a lot more) not built heavily on what is effectively market protectionism? Is this not unfair competition?
2) Is the desire to access the Chinese market already leading to heavy sanitisation of content to meet Chinese government expectations?

 

[BrawlMan]

Tencent I don't trust at all.

​

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

You don't get big in China unless you toe the party line. You don't get really big unless you work to reinforce it. I have no reason to believe that Tencent won't, in the course of its business, try to influence its foreign subsidiaries to alter their content to advance and celebrate Chinese state policy and cultural norms.

 

[Chimpzy]

Considering the CCP's proclivities, it would be foolish to assume the answer to both those questions is not a yes.

 

[stroopwafel]

You don't get big in China unless you toe the party line. You don't get really big unless you work to reinforce it. I have no reason to believe that Tencent won't, in the course of its business, try to influence its foreign subsidiaries to alter their content to advance and celebrate Chinese state policy and cultural norms.

I'd say it's quite the opposite. Didi, Ant Group, Meituan, Ali Baba etc all got crushed with anti-trust violations and regulation issues. I guess predominantly the regime sees data safety as a matter of national security. For tech companies the distinction between harmless user data and strategic data is difficult to make so they can grow into very big firms and then suddenly get the axe. The regime tries to prevent data hoarding by private companies so user data and privacy is safe against these companies but ofcourse privacy against the state doesn't really exist there. Chinese regulations prevent corporate monopolies from feeding their algorithms with endless user data but the regime's intent isn't so much anti-trust or privacy but rather it wants to regulate the strategic implications of this mass data hoarding.

Tencent got big before the regime started to heavily regulate the big tech market but they should still be careful case in point Jack Ma that tried to prevent small traders from doing business with Ali Baba's competitors and who tried to circumvent the national banks with Alipay microcredits. Ma ultimately disappeared for a few months and then apologized so I guess he had a change of heart. For some reason his vacation also renewed his appreciation for Xi.

 

[Agema]

Tencent I don't trust at all.

Bluntly, I don't trust anything close to the CCP: which means all large Chinese firms.

I'd say it's quite the opposite. Didi, Ant Group, Meituan, Ali Baba etc all got crushed with anti-trust violations and regulation issues.

Yes. And I think that tells us something: these actions don't just stand as actions against companies that China thinks are too big for their boots, they serve as warnings to everyone else. China already, a few years back, put a halt on computer game sales. Presumably this whilst they could have a think about their strategy towards them, but one cannot help but feel part of the aim was a "warning shot" at computer game companies: serve our aims, or face trouble.

 

[BrawlMan]

Tencent snaps up British video game developer Sumo in $1.3 billion deal

The purchase, which will boost the Chinese internet giant's presence globally, brings together Sumo's racing and snooker games with Tencent's more high-profile range of games that includes Call of Duty's mobile version. Shareholders in Sheffield-based Sumo will get 513 pence in cash per share...

finance.yahoo.com

 

[Worgen]

I think tencent is overblown as a threat. I don't like them but they seem to be more of a holding company. I don't think its good for so many companies to be under one roof but considering how fragmented the game market is these days, like you have a ton of indie studios doing really good stuff. I think this isn't anywhere near as bad as it would have been 15 years ago.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Yet another company that has been embraced.

 

[Piscian]

I'm on the fence as to whether I think Tencent is going to start or already is censoring games. I do think it's creepy the amount of money they seems to be throwing into everything. If I wanted to push an agenda into a medium and make it difficult to stop me, prebuilding a controlling interest in the market is how I'd do it. This all seems very calculated.

If they did though Id like to imagine it would be difficult to affect broad change. I think gamers by and large just wouldn't buy/play games with an abundance of cut down material due to censoring.

 

[Satinavian]

1) Is Tencent (in video gaming, I know it does a lot more) not built heavily on what is effectively market protectionism? Is this not unfair competition?

Not really. China has never had something like a free market. Someone who wants to be successfull there needs to be party friendly. That means not only being generally China-friendly, it means embracing their every whim and policy instantly. That is more trouble than worth for most non-chinese companies.

2) Is the desire to access the Chinese market already leading to heavy sanitisation of content to meet Chinese government expectations?

Yes. There are more than enough instances affecting varying franchises. Most often it is either about depicting chinese history or minor things like how to treat "undead" with piety.

But ... that is not really new. Developers avoiding Swastikas because of certain countries or matching American sensibilities about nudity (or generally having a high tendency to feature Americans as Player characters in war games) or many other things show that developers always have catered to countries they wanted to sell their games to. At least if those countries had buying power worth anything. If not, you won't even get a localisation.

 

[sXeth]

I'm on the fence as to whether I think Tencent is going to start or already is censoring games. I do think it's creepy the amount of money they seems to be throwing into everything. If I wanted to push an agenda into a medium and make it difficult to stop me, prebuilding a controlling interest in the market is how I'd do it. This all seems very calculated.

If they did though Id like to imagine it would be difficult to affect broad change. I think gamers by and large just wouldn't buy/play games with an abundance of cut down material due to censoring.

Eh, they're an investment company. There's several massive ones lying around. The place I work at despite being localish as its own company is owned by Synnex, which is some multi-billion dollar international conglomerate of different companies across multiple industries.


For the most part, I doubt Tencent is really bothered with doing much in the gaming stakes its holds other then watching their bottom lines. Sure, if there's a major public cross with the CCP (like the Blizzard hong kong incident) they'll leverage some weight to keep their standing. But if there's one thing you can count on the sort of folks who run those big mega-corps, its to follow the money. And the money is not served by smashing up a bunch of pro-China Gov't rhetoric into the games outside of China. Even in China, its probably more of practical concern then anything. If the CCP got ousted tomorrow I'm sure Tencent would be right up and cozy with whoever replaced them too.

 

[stroopwafel]

Yes. And I think that tells us something: these actions don't just stand as actions against companies that China thinks are too big for their boots, they serve as warnings to everyone else. China already, a few years back, put a halt on computer game sales. Presumably this whilst they could have a think about their strategy towards them, but one cannot help but feel part of the aim was a "warning shot" at computer game companies: serve our aims, or face trouble.

To be honest I think the intent of the regime isn't necessarily to subjugate these companies(as this would stifle innovation and economic growth) but rather that, as usual with the CCP, they have this really long-term goal and are willing to sacrifice short term gains for longer term ones like preventing monopolization of strategic data by private entities. Private companies with the kind of power Facebook, Apple and Amazon have would be unthinkable there. Private interests are always subservient to the collective. Or rather, 'social stability'. Videogames are probably similar in the way the regime wants to censor ehm.. more unfavorable episodes in their history but don't yet know how to do that in the internet era. Same for social media.

I remember in the previous decades how commentators would mention how China would 'democratize' under economic growth and international trade as if open borders and civil rights are somehow inevatible outcomes when countries get richer. Then again the regime probably also looks at how receptable people are to the information delivered by social media monoliths in the west and want to prevent these destabilizing effects and aggravating social divisions at all cost. For us freedom of information is a constitutional right and the government isn't above the law but it's unlikely something like the storming of the capitol didn't further convince the CCP of it's convictions. Considering how democracy is under fire in our countries as well I fear for the future to be honest.

 

[Piscian]

And the money is not served by smashing up a bunch of pro-China Gov't rhetoric into the games outside of China. Even in China, its probably more of practical concern then anything. If the CCP got ousted tomorrow I'm sure Tencent would be right up and cozy with whoever replaced them too.

I think the crux of it, following gaming trends I just don't see a procensorship agenda being economically viable this has been tried before with books, comics, tv movies and it never works out. You'd just see an explosion of indie developers feeding that market and eventually swallowing the mainstream.

 

[Gyrobot]

I think the crux of it, following gaming trends I just don't see a procensorship agenda being economically viable this has been tried before with books, comics, tv movies and it never works out. You'd just see an explosion of indie developers feeding that market and eventually swallowing the mainstream.

Hello suspended licenses and prison sentences

 

[Agema]

For us freedom of information is a constitutional right and the government isn't above the law but it's unlikely something like the storming of the capitol didn't further convince the CCP of it's convictions. Considering how democracy is under fire in our countries as well I fear for the future to be honest.

You are right to be concerned. The alarming possibility is that the CCP is doing it "right" for long-term societal success in the internet & social media era and the West is not. If our much esteemed values of freedom of speech become incompatible with the smooth functioning of society, then they will have to be abandoned if our societies wish to thrive. And if we don't thrive, those values will go under anyway because the future will be China's.

 

[Agema]

I think the crux of it, following gaming trends I just don't see a procensorship agenda being economically viable this has been tried before with books, comics, tv movies and it never works out. You'd just see an explosion of indie developers feeding that market and eventually swallowing the mainstream.

That depends. A good shooter can be a good shooter without the need for zombies or opinions on society that China does not like. And a good shooter that gains access to another potential billion customers has a much bigger potential revenue.

You are right that many companies may happily accept their game will not reach a Chinese audience - it's not like there won't be plenty of money to be made. But profits win out, and dominance will increasingly go to companies that follow a more restrictive Chinese agenda.