Chinese Valorant players will get to properly experience Riot's tactical shooter after the NPPA lifted its restriction on the title.
Despite Chinese gamers being able to enjoy Valorant by using a VPN (virtual private network) and playing from the Hong Kong servers, Riot's tactical shooter wasn't widely available in their country, until now.
That's right, on December 28, Valorant fans received the massive news that the National Press and Publication Administration revealed that the game, alongside several other titles, had been approved for distribution and release in China.
A curious thing to note is that it seems Valorant will undergo a name change, being referred to as Fearless Covenant.
According to the VALORANT Weibo, VALORANT's name in Chinese is Wu Wei Qi Yue (Fearless Covenant) pic.twitter.com/m5SZ4kQ50z
— Jumaralo Hex (@JumaraloHexCore) December 28, 2022
In total, five Riot Games were included in the list of 44 games that are now approved by the Chinese government opening the opportunity for millions of gamers to try them out.
It's worth noting, in case you weren't aware, Riot is owned by the massive Tencent conglomerate, making it a rather curious thing why it took so long for their titles to receive approval. An article posted by Niko Partners back in June states that "industry leaders" Tencent and NetEase didn't receive licenses during that month's batch of approved games (a total of 60) despite both sending applications shown on the licensing queue.
China had been taking measures to ensure the youth didn't spend much time playing video games. In September 2021, the government enforced a rule that would see online play limited to three hours per week for every 18-year-old or younger. Furthermore, they could only be allowed to play Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8 pm to 9 pm and on legal holidays.
A report by Niko Partners published in September revealed that the number of young people spending time with video games was reduced to 82.6 million in 2022, down from 120 million in 2020, more likely a direct result of the COVID-19.
The news could also heavily impact news on the forthcoming Valorant Mobile, as it was previously reported that Alpha Testing had already started in China. Since the IP has now been officially approved for distribution, fast-tracking the project could very well be a possibility.
As always, we'll keep you updated on this and more fronts involving Valorant!
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