As console ban lifts, China reveals "hostile" games block
"We still need a screen to block the flies and mosquitoes."
China has begun drawing up plans to police games released in the country following its decision to lift a 14-year ban on foreign console sales.
The reversal was described last week as only a temporary measure - a cautionary step, perhaps, ahead of a more permanent decision - and certainly the Chinese government will retain a firm hold on game releases.
A full list of rules will be written up by China's Ministry of Culture head Cai Wu, who explained in a recent press conference that anything which did not "conform with the outlook of China's government" would never see light of day.
"Things that are hostile to China, or not in conformity with the outlook of China's government, won't be allowed," he explained, as reported by Bloomberg. "We want to open the window a crack to get some fresh air, but we still need a screen to block the flies and mosquitoes."
The increasing ease of which smartphones and other internet-enabled devices can be used for gaming has meant that a block on consoles now has far less impact than it once did.
More important for the Chinese government, however, will be the lure of the $10 billion annual revenue to be gained by the video games market in 2015. China is now the third largest market for gaming in the world, behind the US and Japan.
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