The Audio Long Read No cults, no politics, no ghouls: how China censors the video game world
14 snips
May 6, 2026 
Jordan Erica Webber, professional voice actor and narrator, reads Oliver Holmes’s Long Read. She walks through China’s sprawling games market, the rise of Tencent and NetEase, and how developers reshape titles for approval. Topics include localisation limits, technical hurdles of censorship, industry self-censorship, and high-profile conflicts over political speech.
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Stellaris Shows Even Sci‑Fi Can Be Blocked
- Paradox's Stellaris failed to launch in China despite being sci‑fi because its gameplay lets players choose forms of government, including cults or democracies.
- Paradox partnered with Tencent and even sold 5% equity, yet five years later Stellaris remained unlicensed after prior bans like Hearts of Iron in 2004.
Riot's Localization Meeting Revealed Practical Rules
- Riot Games sold a controlling stake to Tencent in 2011 and then designers received localization guides warning against gambling, strong violence, nudity and other sensitivities.
- Designers were told to change gore to black blood, add flesh to skeletons, and prefer 'pretty, anime' aesthetics to grotesque monsters.
Vague Moral Rules Create A Black Box For Games
- China's censorship mixes clear rules with vague moral clauses, giving regulators wide latitude to ban content that 'endangers social morality' or 'promotes cults'.
- Unwritten localization rules emerged, like no characters rising from the ground, no realistic blood, and changing skeletons to look fleshed.