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PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is one of 2017's most popular video games, and it's getting a makeover for the Chinese market:
Chinese gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd is bringing "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", the world's hottest video game, to China, but with a twist. The gory, battle royale-style game will get a socialist makeover to meet stringent Chinese rules. The move comes after China's content regulator slammed the South Korean-made game, PUBG for short, last month for being too violent and said it would likely be blocked because it "severely deviates from socialist core values".
The PUBG game where players fight for survival on a deserted island is currently the world's top-selling videogame, having shipped more than 20 million copies since its launch in March. It has been developed by South Korean firm Blue Hole.
Tencent, which recently outstripped Facebook Inc in market value, said it had won the exclusive rights to the game in China, and that it would modify the game in order to meet the requirements of China's regulators and censors. "(Tencent) will make adjustment to content ... and make sure they accord with socialist core values, Chinese traditional culture and moral rules," it said in a statement on Wednesday.
Also at Engadget.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday November 23 2017, @08:53AM (3 children)
I agree but mostly disagree. Now, I don't know much about games, the last time I enjoyed gaming was Deus Ex and before that I never understood a goddamn thing about gaming. But from what my ignorant mind understands is that modern gaming is a pay-to-play affair, and the big names have been baiting-and-switching and raping the hardcore from their servers for decades. "Other OS..." ha, ha, ha. It's not unlike social media, really, they're pimp-slapping you all and you're still paying money and upgrading to the next Microsoft operating system and graphics cards to satisfy their...heh... hard requirements.
And for some reason, it's still a viable business model. Just like Facebook is. Why is that so? Who are the cowardly crack-addicted enablers who perpetuate that business model?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday November 23 2017, @12:33PM (2 children)
Pay-to-play? You look at the present gaming world through the mist of age (or is it actually alcohol? grin)
Ok, let me give you the glimpse that I managed to put together from the fragments I gathered in the last 6-9 months:
1. freemium [penny-arcade.com] model is what makes now the gross income in the industry - free to play, won't get too far in the game if you don't spend real money for virtual game artifacts. I kid you not, the "gaming economy" gained specific terminology: whales, dolphins and minnows. Quickly changing: a whale spent min $20/mo, $90/mo top [gamesbrief.com] in 2011, $50/w and 27h/w playing [kotaku.com.au] in 2014 and $335/mo median [adweek.com] in 2016
2. esports [wikipedia.org] with an international federation [wikipedia.org] and the possible inclusion in the Olympic Games [espn.com.au]. Of course, complete with it's own esports channel [wikipedia.org] - acquired by Amazon for almost $1B in 2014, just 3 year after launch (2011). Agents, and teams and teams ownership, and everything related with the entertainment industry associated with sports.
But wait, there's more... of course, addiction forming at young age [engadget.com] and "skin gambling" [wikipedia.org] - the use of virtual goods as virtual currency to bet on the outcome of professional matches.
3. if there's money, there'll be politics. See candidate for US Congress to fundraise by killing virtual nazis [briannawu2018.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday November 23 2017, @12:43PM (1 child)
Fuck you up your asses with your frenulum.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 23 2017, @01:56PM
I'll virtually kill you, you virtual Nazi. Now, pay me.