Monster Hunter: World is Capcom’s best-selling game. So, just imagine the kind of money a gaming platform stands to make by selling it. We say this, because Tencent, will not be making that kind of money – WeGame, the Chinese equivalent of Steam owned by the company, has been ordered by the Chinese Government to pull the title from its online store.
According to the Financial Times, Chinese regulators have called for the the game to be pulled yesterday due to a “large number of complaints.” Tencent did not specify the nature of the complaints.
As a result of this, Tencent will have to refund over one million pre-orders for the game, and the company says it will do so “without conditions,” assuming the request for refund is made by 20 August. Those who choose not to refund the game can still continue to play, but Tencent says it cannot guarentee updates, DLC and even multiplayer servers to be available beyond that date.
A title like Monster Hunter: World would have been key to helping WeGame grow in the face of the US competition, what with Steam having plans to officially launch in China despite already being used unofficially by many. But with the platform being ordered to pull the title during its PC launch month, it doesn’t look like the strategy will work anymore.
An unnamed source close to WeGame has told the Financial Times that despite the official statement, the removal of the title has more to do with bureaucratic infighting than actual censorhip. Since March, China has had a new media regulator, and as a result approvals of new mobile games have experienced a months-long freeze.
Meanwhile, we couldn’t find any confirmation whether the ban affects the console version of the game. From that, we’d assume that console gamers in China are unaffected by this move.
Source: Financial Times,
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