Company fined nearly $100k for publishing unapproved game in China

A Chinese gaming company has been fined 700,000 yuan ($99,000) for publishing a game in the country without a license, the first instance of such a fine since the restructuring of the government's gaming regulator.

South China Morning Post reports that the unnamed, Beijing-based company was fined seven times its total revenue from the game. This is in accordance with a law that allows the government to fine publishers of unlicensed games between five and ten times an unlicensed game's revenue.

Following a freeze on new game license approvals in China last year, the government has since reorganized its gaming regulatory body and has begun approving games again in smaller batches than before, with more restrictions on games that are obvious clones of other games, poker, mah-jong, or include obscene content.

Additionally, companies including Tencent are currently working on a new age-rating system to restrict certain kinds of games to younger children as well as regulate their total gaming time and spend. The regulator published a new set of rules for minors last month that is expected to take advantage of that age-rating system.