Due to concerns raised by governmental agencies in charge of regulating entertainment licenses, Monster Hunter World has been removed from retail and digital outlets in China. No guarantee on the continued operation of the game has been promised and Tencent is offering refunds to affected customers.
Monster Hunter World, which is due to launch on PC in China next month, is one 2018’s most successful games, recording a whopping eight million sales since its launch in the United States. Chinese holdings company Tencent acquired the license for the game’s distribution and planned to spearhead its new WeGame gaming client with the popular title. Due to “non-specific” customer complaints, however, Monster Hunter World is no longer available for pre-order sale in China.
According to laws issued by China’s regulatory agency, all games entering the market must be reviewed and potentially altered to bring them more in line with socialist values. Apparently, that process may not have happened. Or, as mooted by the Financial Times, the situation is less about the game’s content and more to do with bureaucracy; a new media regulator has supposedly caused the delay over several mobile titles in recent months.
Mega-corporation Tencent Games has previously acquired the rights to distribute several popular western titles in China. Most recently, PlayerUknown’s Battlegrounds, which has been hugely successful. So popular, in fact, that it has allegedly contributed breakdown in relations with Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends which Tencent acquired back in 2011.
