China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) has released its first batch of video game licensing in 2025. The list includes several major releases and dozens of smaller titles.
Honor of Kings World
On January 21, the NPPA approved 123 games from Chinese developers. For comparison, the largest batch of domestic licenses last year was issued in December (122).
In addition, the regulator approved 13 foreign titles, bringing the total to 136 this month.
One of the most notable products among domestic games is Honor of Kings: World, an upcoming open world action RPG based on Tencent’s MOBA Honor of Kings. Developed by TiMi Studio Group (), the game aims to introduce a global audience to the universe of the world’s highest-grossing mobile game.
After obtaining a licensing number, Tencent shared a post detailing the development of Honor of Kings World. The exact release date in China is still unclear, with the company planning to conduct more tests in the coming months.
When looking at the list of approved titles from foreign developers, Frostpunk: Beyond the Ice, a mobile version of 11 bit studio’s strategy game, will be released in China (titled “The Last Home”). It will be published and operated by NetEase, which also helped the Polish studio develop the global version.
The list also includes Spiritfarer (mobile), Fortress Saga: AFK RPG, Ultraman Card Game, and JUMP: Assemble. The latter is a 5v5 MOBA game featuring characters from popular manga series, such as Naruto, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen.
Another approved game worth mentioning is Star Resonance, an upcoming mobile game based on Bandai Namco’s recently canceled MMORPG Blue Protocol.
In 2024, the NPPA licensed 1,416 video games, including 110 foreign titles — up 31.7% from 1,075 last year and nearly 2.8x the total of 512 titles licensed in 2022.