Original author: Lawyer Shao Shiwei - Senior lawyer at Shanghai Mankiw Law Firm
Foreword:
The publication number (commonly known as the version number) is equivalent to the birth certificate of the game. If the game goes online and operates without obtaining the version number and charges fees, according to the Online Publishing Service Management Regulations, the operator may be fined with a maximum illegal business amount of 10 A series of punitive measures including times of fines, website closure, and confiscation of illegal gains.
However, due to my countrys policy reasons, game version numbers are strictly controlled. In recent years, only a few hundred game version numbers are issued each year.
(Source[1])
Under this situation, many game manufacturers have chosen to save the country by exporting their games overseas, such as putting their games on the comprehensive game platform Steam. Are there any corresponding legal risks in doing so? This article makes an analysis.
01 Why can Steam be sold to the domestic market?
Steam is a video game digital distribution platform launched by the American company Valve (commonly known as V Company by players). The mainstream of the global game industry is the rating system, and the version number system is a phenomenon in a few countries. Listing games on Steam does not require a version number, and there are no obstacles to selling games to domestic users. This is because it is protected by the relevant provisions of the Protocol on the Accession of the People’s Republic of China to the World Trade Organization.
As an American company (the concept here does not include the steam platform), Steam has not entered the Chinese market and only provides Chinese users with payment channels such as Alipay, WeChat and Chinese pages. According to the market access restrictions on audiovisual services and distribution services of video recordings, including entertainment software and (CPC 83202) · sound recording products distribution services in the Most Favored Nation Exemption List in Article 2 of the Schedule of Specific Commitments for Trade in Services of the Peoples Republic of China, Chinese users are allowed by law to purchase audio-visual service products on Steam.
02 Domestic game manufacturers have not obtained a version number and put it on the Steam platform for domestic players. Is it legal?
When making games in China, the inability to obtain a version number means that the game cannot be launched online and the platform cannot have a recharge function. Otherwise, you will face the risk of administrative penalties. Therefore, many game manufacturers choose to put their games on Steam.
Is this legal? This first involves the issue of extraterritorial jurisdiction of our country’s laws.
The author once wrote in the previous article Is it okay to launch the blockchain game Gamefi without a game version number? 》 has analyzed that if there is no domestic version number or package number for online games, and there are corresponding administrative penalty provisions, according to the modest characteristics of the criminal law, criminal means should no longer be used to punish.
In criminal cases, there are territorial jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, protective jurisdiction, and universal jurisdiction. Therefore, in theory, as long as a Chinese person commits a crime, the victim is a Chinese person, or the crime is committed in China, Chinese judicial organs have jurisdiction.
However, administrative penalties do not have such a wide scope of application. They only apply within China (foreigners and foreign companies that commit illegal acts in China can also apply). However, it does not apply if the perpetrator’s behavior occurred abroad.
Therefore, if a game manufacturer releases a game without a version number in China, it is regulated by administrative laws, but if the game is released on the foreign platform Steam, it will not be subject to administrative penalties.
However, it should be noted that in February 2021, the “Steam Platform” (Steam China) cooperated by Valve and Perfect World was officially launched in China. If you publish the game on the steam platform, you still need to obtain a version number.
03 Since Steam is so popular, do you no longer need to queue up and wait for the version number in China?
According to CompareCamp 2020 statistics, the Steam platform is the worlds largest digital distribution platform for computer games. You can imagine how many games there will be on the platform. In places where competition is extremely competitive, the possibility of making money will become smaller, but if it can be launched domestically, game manufacturers will make much more money.
In addition, although from a legal perspective, publishing games on Steam is not risky if you are in China. However, the occurrence of some extreme events cannot be ruled out in practice. Let’s look at the following 2 recent cases:
Case 1: A Chinese programmer circumvented the wall to work for an overseas company and logged in to Github to receive company tasks. He was deemed by the Chengde Municipal Public Security Bureau to have unauthorized use of non-legal channels for international networking and was fined 200 yuan, with more than 1 million yuan in illegal gains confiscated.
Case 2: Li Moumou took pictures of the clothes he purchased from Pinduoduo and uploaded them to Facebook, and sold the purchased goods overseas. The Yangxin County Public Security Bureau fined him and confiscated his illegal gains. The basis for punishment is the same as in Case 1 above.
Domestic users use circumvention methods to log into overseas websites, engage in profitable work and receive foreign exchange. In the eyes of relevant departments, this may be regarded as engaging in illegal activities by illegal means. The legality and reasonableness of such penalties is highly controversial.
Therefore, for game manufacturers, even if you provide evidence to prove that your game is not promoted and sold to the Chinese market, it is not listed in China, the webpage does not provide simplified Chinese, the in-app purchase system does not support domestic payment channels, and technical means are used to block it Mainland IP, etc. It is still impossible to completely avoid the possibility of being punished in cases like the above.
04 Mankiw lawyer reminds
On September 23, 2021, the China Audiovisual and Digital Publishing Association and the Game Publishing Working Committee issued the Online Game Industry Anti-Addiction Self-Discipline Convention (hereinafter referred to as the Convention). It is mentioned that we must build a strong security defense line and resist harmful content. We must resolutely resist bypassing regulatory mechanisms and providing services to domestic users through overseas game platforms.
Although you can log in to Steam in China without circumventing the firewall, there will be problems with network lag. If you want a smooth gaming experience, domestic players still need to scientifically surf the Internet. It can be seen from this that even if domestic users buy games on Steam Games are allowed, but Chinas firewall still restricts Steam.
Against the above background, combined with the analysis of two recent cases, domestic game manufacturers put unlicensed games on Steam. Even if there is no prohibition in terms of existing legal regulations, it still cannot be absolutely ruled out that administrative penalties will be imposed. possible.
In addition, if the game content is contrary to the core values of socialism and cannot meet the domestic review standards for games submitted for review, the game company will promote it on relevant domestic social platforms (which is equivalent to instigating domestic users to circumvent the firewall). , there is still the risk of being suspected of other illegal and criminal activities.
[ 1 ] Behind the 548 version numbers in the first half of the year: Which manufacturers are the winners? Which games will bring new growth?
Special statement:
This article is an original article by Shanghai Mankiw Law Firm. It only represents the personal views of the author of this article and does not constitute legal consultation or legal opinions on specific matters. If you need to reprint the article, please contact Mankun Law Firm staff: MankunLawFirm
