Recently, China established an Online Gaming Ethics Review Committee to examine a first batch of 20 games which include Fortnite, PUBG, H1Z1, Paladins, Overwatch and World of Warcraft. These games were assessed to contain “ethics risks” such as inclusion of blood & gore and vulgar content. Publishers of 11 games have been instructed to make changes and remove “ethically questionable content,” and 9 games are rumored to be either pulled from the market or prohibited from sale.

Game Cause Recommended Action
Arena of Valor (Tencent) Overly revealing female characters, rewards given based on rank, distorted concepts of history and culture. Corrective action
League of Legends (Riot) Overly revealing female characters, rewards given based on rank, inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action
Blade & Soul (NCSOFT) Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action
Chu Liu Xiang (NetEase) Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom, game missions include fraud. Corrective action
Overwatch (Blizzard) Game visuals promote incorrect values, inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action
  1. Diablo (Blizzard)
Inharmonious chat, game missions include fraud. Corrective action
World of Warcraft (Blizzard) Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action
Westward Journey (NetEase) Overly revealing female characters, inharmonious chatroom, distorted concepts of history and culture. Corrective action
Code: Eva (Tencent) Rewards given based on rank, distorted concepts of history and culture. Corrective action
The Legent of Mir 3 (WeMade) Inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action
Swords of Legends Online (Aurogon) Inharmonious chatroom. Corrective action
PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (Bluehole) Blood and gore. Prohibited/Withdraw
Fortnite (Epic) Blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw
H1Z1 (Daybreak) Blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw
Alliance of Valiant Arms (Red Duck) Blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw
Ring of Elysium (Tencent) Blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw
Paladins (Hi-Rez) Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw
Free Fire Battlegrounds (Garena) Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw
Knives Out (NetEase) Overly revealing female characters, blood and gore, vulgar content. Prohibited/Withdraw
Quantum Matrix (NetEase) Blood and gore, vulgar content, inharmonious chat Prohibited/Withdraw

Source: Reddit

The “banning” of the games still seems to be a rumor for now which have was sparked by a post on a Chinese gaming forum, and was then translated to English by this Reddit thread which garnered a lot of attention. The Reddit post goes on to claim that “It’s not entirely clear if the recommended actions have actually been enforced by regulators, last I heard PUBG and Fortnite for example are still playable.”

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