China forbids blood, corpses, poker, mahjong in games

China has announced new rules regarding the release of games. From now on poker and mahjong are forbidden and games must not show blood or corpses. Also prohibited are titles that deal in a certain way with China’s imperial past.

Accessing China’s gaming market is difficult. Now the Chinese government has announced new rules that developers and publishers must follow in order to get a chance to offer their titles in the country.

Strict rules

According to these rules, poker and mahjong are now illegal. Even titles dealing with China’s imperial past may no longer be published – if they deal with the topic “harem”.

But that’s not all. Games, which are to come on the market in China, may show no blood and no corpses. It is also not allowed to color the blood differently. Blood was already banned before, but developers could bypass this ban by changing the color. So that is no longer possible.

To ensure that the rules are adhered to, the new “Online Game Ethics Committee” checks the titles. This should lead to a “healthier” games market in China.