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China Suspends Sales of Monster Hunter: World Game
posted on by Alex Mateo
Chinese company Tencent's game streaming platform WeGame announced on Monday that it would suspend sales of CAPCOM's Monster Hunter: World PC game on its WeGame Platform in China as of Monday. The company reported that the Chinese government ordered the suspension because the game did not comply to unspecified regulations.
Nikkei's Financial Times news website reported that an unnamed source close to WeGame said the removal was not due to user complaints about content, but rather due to bureaucratic infighting. China has a new media regulator as of March, and it has caused a freeze on approvals of mobile games.
Tencent is offering refunds and vouchers until August 20. It has not announced if or when it plans to resume distribution of the game.
Monster Hunter: World launched in Japan and overseas on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 26, and shipped 5 million copies worldwide (including digital sales) in its first three days to set a new franchise record. The game had a combined shipments and digital sales total of 8.3 million copies as of July 30.
CAPCOM launched the game for PC on August 9. The PC game had more than one million preorders in China, but was removed one day after release.
Sources: Tencent's Monster Hunter: World game website, Game Watch, Financial Times (Tom Hancock)
