Game shares soar as Chinese regulators again allow services in country

Game shares are soaring Thursday morning as China’s content regulator gave a nod to local game companies to run their services in the country for the first time in a year and a half.

Visitors at Netmarble's booth at the G-Star 2022 gaming festival held in Busan on Nov. 17. [KIM JUNG-MIN]

Game shares are soaring Thursday morning as China’s content regulator gave a nod to local game companies to run their services in the country for the first time in a year and a half.

Netmarble jumped 17.35 percent to 60,200 won at 10:08 a.m. Thursday on the Kospi bourse.

NCSoft rose 6.23 percent to 27,000 won.

Kosdaq-listed Nexon Games increased 8.70 percent to 1,100 won.

Game developer Joycity advanced 21.18 percent to 4,405 won, after hitting the ceiling with a 29.99 percent increase at 9:15 a.m.. Wemade increased 2.44 percent to 33,600 won.

China’s National Press and Publication Administration on Wednesday announced that it granted approvals to 44 overseas games for local operations, which included seven Korean game titles such as Nexon’s “MapleStory M” and Netmarble’s “Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds.”

China has been denying Korean games’ service in the country since March 2017 with only a handful of exceptions, as part of an unofficial economic sanction against Korea over the deployment of the U.S.-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad missile shield.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]