The Great Squeeze: A Look at the Declining Game Licensing Trend Over the Past Five Years

Recently, the community has been abuzz over the publication of game license issuance data from the past five years. The original poster shared a chart showing a drastic, cascading decline in the number of licenses issued, sparking widespread debate among players.

The comment section is split. Pessimists argue that even if more licenses were available, the domestic market is struggling to produce quality games, with some dismissively stating, 'Let the trash be trash.' Others are skeptical of the official 'forced quality improvement' (daobi jingpinhua) narrative, suggesting it is merely a byproduct of stricter cultural controls. One user cynically remarked, 'Their goal was always to stop people from playing games; in that sense, it's working perfectly.'

Veteran players have also chimed in, reflecting on the 9,000 licenses issued in 2017. They point out that back then, a significant portion were low-effort card and board games or 'reskinned' products. However, despite the historical lack of quality, the current extreme scarcity of new titles has left the community deeply unsatisfied with the industry's direction.