Boris Anosov

Unity Cancels Runtime Fees: Big News for China’s Game Developers 🇨🇳🎮 A year after launching its highly controversial Runtime Fees policy, Unity officially canceled the plan on September 12. This change is particularly impactful for China, one of the biggest gaming markets worldwide.💡 What Happened? Unity’s previous policy would have charged developers based on the number of game installs. This sparked global backlash, with indie developers especially upset. While large Chinese studios like Tencent (creators of Honor of Kings) and miHoYo (Genshin Impact) didn't publicly protest, the policy threatened to impact their bottom line and the wider developer community.🎮 Why It Matters in China Unity is the most popular game engine in China, powering about 70% of the top 1000 mobile games. Mobile games dominate the Chinese market, and Unity's original Runtime Fees model had the potential to severely hurt […]

📱 Court Ruling on Unauthorized In-Game Purchases by a Minor: A Balance of Responsibilities ⚖️ As someone who's always been concerned about how easily children can make in-game purchases, this recent case in Guangdong really hit home. In today’s world, most phones require linking a payment method, making it easy for kids to make unauthorized purchases — even by accident.A recent court case in Guangdong has sparked a critical conversation about parental responsibility and the role of gaming companies in regulating minor's in-game spending. The case involved a 10-year-old child who made over 50 unauthorized transactions using their parent’s phone, accumulating more than 50,000 RMB ($7,000 USD) in gaming charges.The court ruled that the gaming company must refund 30% of the total amount. While the child’s actions were deemed invalid due to their age, the court highlighted shared responsibility. The […]

  What’s your level of Mandarin? (Part 2) 🇨🇳 A question that always stumps me – and believe it or not, I don't have an answer. I've never taken any official Mandarin language exams.When I graduated from university, I could easily read articles on political and economic topics and understand speeches from Chinese leaders (although that would be much harder for me now).I believe in learning by doing. Each job I've had has taught me a specific area of the language.For example, at my first job in clothing production, I found myself in China needing to translate, "The jacket lining should be purple with a silver coating, and the buttons square." I thought I’d get fired on the spot during that business trip! But I pulled myself together and quickly learned all the necessary vocabulary.Then I moved on to medical […]

  Will We Be Motivating Users to Play Honor of Kings: World as Early as Next Year? 🎮 At Apple's September event, while the tech world may not have been surprised, the gaming industry certainly felt a tremor of excitement. One standout moment was the real-time demonstration of "Honor of Kings: World" (Tencent), marking the first time this game was showcased on mobile.For those unfamiliar, "Honor of Kings" is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game where players control characters with unique abilities, working to defeat opponents and non-player characters (NPCs) to gain experience and gold.Following the event, conversations buzzed about mobile performance, Tencent’s future moves, and potential 2024 release dates. Yet, what really deserves attention is Tencent’s ambitious strategy: using the "Honor of Kings" IP to break into global markets more effectively.Fun fact: The original soundtrack for "Honor of […]