Finnish gaming company Supercell has withdrawn its services from Vietnam citing regulatory issues. The viral games like Clash of Clans, Hay Day and Clash Royale will no longer be available on the App Store and Google Play Store.
Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications has also removed about 142 games, reported VNExpress.
The ministry said that the games were removed as they portrayed aggressive violence, gambling, profanity and distorted Vietnamese history. It was also stated that gaming companies should have a local office for regulated supervision by the government.
According to Vietnam's regulations, a multi-player game should have a license for providing game services. The law also states that the gaming company will have to seek content approval from the government.
Supercell has said that it will keep an open dialogue with its partners and the Vietnam government. It is also looking for a long-term solution that would allow better operations in the area. The company has not given up and will find ways to develop games for Vietnamese players.
Supercell has apologised to gamers in Vietnam for the inconvenience and informed them to sign up with a Supercell identity to save their progress.
Reasons that made Supercell relieve its services in Vietnam
- Strict Vietnamese regulations of blocking ad monetisation for games
- The license problem in Vietnam does not allow cross-border multi-player games to avoid revenue generation without the permission of the government.
- Licensing of foreign games requires collaborations with Vietnamese companies, which in turn carry out the procedures to open a branch and take the front hand in the company earnings.
- Vietnam imposes regulations on the founders such that the capital contribution of the foreign company is below 50 percent, giving the Vietnam government supreme rights over the games.
- The approval system of Vietnam is harsh as during the successive licensing process, the applications are taken down from the stores until approved, leading to a sync problem for the companies.
- Mission games are not allowed to hold on to their authentic wallpapers and latest voice chat functions due to the critical government norms.
- The long term reviewing process disrupts the enthusiasm of players resulting in a massive loss of player traffic in the country.
The latest figures from VNExpress state that about 175 online games were licensed in Vietnam in 2018, out of which about 95 percent were from China.
