Ring Fit Adventure will release in China following its approval of tech company Tencent to publish the game.
Gaming and social media giant Tencent and Nintendo collaboratively released the Nintendo Switch in China back in December 2019; nearly three years after the console's initial release in other regions, including North America, Japan, and Europe. Per regulations mandating the approval of publishing games by related administrators, there were previously only three games available on the Nintendo Switch in China.
Now, a fourth game is being added to the library with home exercise title Ring Fit Adventure, which received approval on Thursday for Tencent to publish. The approval to publish comes 10 months after Ring Fit Adventure's initial release in October 2019.
The reason that game publishing companies require approval before publishing a game is so they can accrue revenue from microtransactions. As microtransactions have a greater presence in games than they previously had, it would follow that games typically need more vetting through these types of systems, even though Ring Fit Adventure does not entail microtransactions.
A possible reason for Ring Fit Adventure's approval's timing could have to do with its success elsewhere. The game previously sold out in the United States and Canada back in March, disappearing from major retailers almost half a year after its release due the novel coronavirus pandemic, where lockdowns were rapidly occurring, which signaled Switch owners were ready to take their exercise routines to the comfort of their homes. Consumers in China will soon have this alternative during the novel coronavirus pandemic as well.
At its release, Ring Fit Adventure was praised for its creativity as a home exercise game, despite being a little light on narrative and gameplay. Selling 1 million units in Japan alone by June, the game proved to be a thorough success for Nintendo, which heavily profited from the gaming boom resulting from the COVID-19-related stay-at-home orders between the Nintendo Switch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and other software like Ring Fit Adventure.
Tencent has risen as a major player in the global gaming industry. As China's premier gaming giant, the company has steadily grown since before its acquisition of Clash of Clans in 2016 and prior involvement with PUBG. Housing the development of Call of Duty: Mobile and publishing the upcoming Pokemon Unite, Tencent has proven a significant player in the gaming industry in China and abroad, with a strong presence in the social media space.
Ring Fit Adventure is currently available on the Nintendo Switch
Source: Reuters
