China takes tough stance on online games

The Chinese Government has introduced a new law which forces game distributors to submit imported titles to official censors before they can be sold in the country.

According to the Xinhua news agency, as reported by the BBC, the new rule has been introduced following "a rash of problems with imported online games, some of which contain sensitive religious material or refer to territorial disputes".

From now on, only games which have been approved by censors, and therefore do not contain content considered to be too pornographic or violent, may be sold in China. In addition, developers must produce a monthly report confirming that they have not added any extra content following approval.

Around 23 million Chinese gamers play online games, making it one of the biggest markets in the world - with annual revenues of more than 640 million Euro.

The new rules will also cover imported music which is distributed online. The Chinese Government already censors the country's media, including newspapers and TV, and restricts access to the Internet.