遊戲開發者在中國面臨的挑戰

Cracking China, the world’s largest video games market, is an enticing challenge for overseas developers. But capturing a share of $24bn in annual revenues means surmounting censorship obstacles, such as objections to lead characters in standard shoot-’em-up roles being killers for hire.

打入世界上最大電子遊戲市場中國，對海外開發商而言是一個誘人的挑戰。但是，在240億美元的年度營收中分一杯羹，意味着要克服審查障礙，比如標準槍戰遊戲中的主角不能是被僱傭的殺手。

“The main character should not be an assassin, we would suggest a law enforcement officer or military personnel being more APPropriate,” said China’s top censorship body about one game recently, according to Henry Fong of Yodo1, a games “localising” company that converts overseas titles in China. The body also requested the censorship of locations in China and Taiwan, among other “very specific” requirements, Mr Fong said.

遊道易(Yodo1)的方誌航(Henry Fong)稱，不久前中國最高審查機構在談起一個遊戲時表示，“主要角色不應該是一個刺客，我們建議主角是執法官員或軍事人員更合適。”遊道易是一家把海外遊戲推廣至中國國內的遊戲“本地化”公司。他說，除了其他一些“非常具體的”要求，該機構還要求對中國大陸和臺灣境內的地點進行審查。

As with films, all games released in China require approval from the culture ministry and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) — a requirement that has proved to be a barrier to market access and was extended to cover the fast-growing mobile sector last year.

跟電影一樣，所有在中國發布的遊戲必須得到國家新聞出版廣電總局的審批——這一要求已被證明是進入中國市場的壁壘，並在去年延伸至飛速發展的手機遊戲領域。

While a ban on the sale of consoles such as Sony’s PlayStation was lifted to much fanfare in 2013, since then, fewer than 100 console games have been approved. Andrew House, chief executive of Sony’s interactive entertainment unit, has said the “challenging censorship regime” in China has dented PlayStation sales. Restrictions on violent content keep out top-selling titles such as Bloodborne and the God of War and Grand Theft Auto franchises.

儘管在2013年，國內不得銷售索尼(Sony) PlayStation等電子遊戲機的禁令被取消，引起一片轟動，但自那以來，獲准銷售的遊戲機遊戲不到100種。索尼互動娛樂(Sony Interactive Entertainment)首席執行官安德魯?豪斯(Andrew House)表示，中國“具有挑戰性的審查體制”削弱了PlayStation的銷量。對暴力內容的限制，把《血源》(Bloodborne)、《戰神》(God of War)和《俠盜獵車手》(Grand Theft Auto)等暢銷遊戲拒之門外。

Other vague requirements have lengthened approval processes, which can extend for more than six months, deterring some companies from trying to launch their titles, according to Daniel Ahmad of Niko Partners, a consultancy. Content that “threatens China’s national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity” is forbidden, along with anything that “harms the nation’s reputation, security, or interests, public ethics or China’s culture and traditions,” SAPPRFT says.

諮詢公司Niko Partners的丹尼爾?艾哈邁德(Daniel Ahmad)表示，其他含糊要求拖長了審批流程（可能超過6個月），使一些公司打消了嘗試在中國發布遊戲的念頭。國家新聞出版廣電總局表示，“危害國家統一、主權和領土完整”的內容，以及任何“危害國家安全，或者損害國家榮譽和利益，危害社會公德或者民族優秀文化傳統”的內容，都是被禁止的。

A female employee at a Chinese online games company, who did not wish to give her name, said that characters could not be shown in short skirts. “There can’t be any sight of blood, so we make it black. There can’t be words like ‘kill’ or ‘die’, and use of English is banned,” she added.

中國一家在線遊戲公司的一位不願具名的女性員工表示，遊戲人物不能以穿短裙的形象示人。她還說：“遊戲中不能出現一點點血，所以我們把血做成黑色的。遊戲裏不能出現‘殺’或‘死’的字樣，不得使用英語。”

In some cases, local laws extend to the virtual world: “The regulators require the birth system in our games to meet the regulations of birth-control policies,” Xu Youzhen, chairman of Guangzhou-based Duoyi Network Technology, said in 2015 of the country’s then “one child” restrictions. “Which means if players have a second child in the game, we must impose virtual social-compensation fees on them.”

在有些情況下，現實世界的法律延伸到了虛擬世界：“管理部門要求我們：遊戲裏的生子系統，要符合國家計劃生育的有關規定，”廣州多益網絡(Duoyi Network Technology)董事長徐宥箴在2015年談到中國那時的“獨生子女”政策限制時說，“也就是說玩家在遊戲裏生二胎，我們得安排對他們徵收虛擬的社會撫養費。”

Foreign developers have “open lines of communication with regulators so that they can get a sense of what may or may not be sensitive content,” said a Beijing-based games industry lawyer, who did not wish to be named. Chinese fans of the latest instalment of Japan’s Final Fantasy role-playing series noted in November that one fairy-like character came with added clothing for modesty’s sake.

北京一位不願具名的遊戲行業律師說，外國開發商有“跟管理部門溝通的公開渠道，以便了解什麼可能是敏感內容，什麼不是。”日本《最終幻想》(Final Fantasy)角色扮演系列遊戲的最新一版的中國粉絲在去年11月指出，爲了端莊起見，仙女模樣的人物增加了衣服。

Yodo1’s Mr Fong says inquiries from foreign developers are still strong, but they are preparing for local censorship “at an earlier stage of their games development than before”.

遊道易的方誌航表示，目前來自外國開發商的詢問仍很多，但他們開始準備“在遊戲開發中比以往更早的階段”接受國內審查。

Analysts and developers say that, as with films, game censorship stifles local companies wanting to export their titles. Recent tightening comes amid a boom in small independent Chinese developers attempting to make inroads overseas. Last month, Chinese indie title Candleman became available overseas on the Xbox. China-developed League of Angels has won overseas awards and has hundreds of thousands of fans on Facebook.

分析師和開發商表示，跟電影一樣，遊戲審查壓制了想要出口遊戲的國內公司。審查不久前收緊之際，正值試圖進軍海外市場的中國小型獨立遊戲開發商大量涌現。上月，中國公司獨立製作的《蠟燭人》(Candleman)已登陸海外的Xbox。中國開發的《女神聯盟》(League of Angels)已贏得多個國際獎項，在Facebook上有了數十萬粉絲。

Chen Yu of Shanghai-based Jufu Internet Technology last year penned an angry open letter to China’s premier Li Keqiang and the country’s State Council, protesting against the censorship of mobile games. He complained small developers would be driven out of business.

去年，上海巨斧網絡科技有限公司的陳宇寫了一封憤怒的公開信給中國總理李克強和國務院，就手機遊戲審查提出抗議。他抱怨稱，中小遊戲開發者的經營受到嚴重影響。

“There are higher barriers to entry, plus the extra time and money. Any one of those alone would be enough to knock out a small company,” he says, adding that the rules had already had a “big impact” on the sector. As for the letter, he says: “I’m still waiting for a response.”

他說：“（《網絡出版服務管理規定》和《關於移動遊戲出版服務管理的通知》）大幅提高了中小企業和個人開發者的經營成本，提高了准入門檻。這些限制顯然極可能將從事遊戲開發的中小企業和個人排除在市場之外。”他接着說，這些規定已對行業產生了“嚴重影響”。至於公開信，他說：“我仍在等待回覆。”