On April 11th, 2022, China National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) revealed a new list of video games that were approved to release. It was the first time after NPPA halted the process to approve video games in July 2021 and people treated it as a signal that the so-called “video game license winter” was ended, for now.
There are 45 games on that list and Master of Pottery is one of them. The game is a simulator type of pottery-creation game and was released on Steam in 2019 as early access. It soon got overwhelmingly positive (97% positive) reviews. The game developer AZGames decided to release the game on mobile in China market and started the application with help from a third party agency for the license in September 2020.
To abide the Chinese regulation, developers removed their game from the Steam store for the China region and modified their game under the instructions from the agency and NPPA. In February 2021, AZGames provided the final version to NPPA and normally they could get the publish license after half a year. However, their middleman was suspended due to some improper trading practice and their license application was ceased. They had to find another agency and start all over again.
In July 2021, they provided their game to NPPA after more modifications were made and it was the time when NPPA halted all license releases until now. On December 24th, 2021, they posted a video on Bilibli.com sharing their difficult situation of still desperately waiting for approval to publish their game.
On Apr 12th, AZGames posted their feeling after getting the license. They said they have adapted to the long waiting and were not too emotional when they finally got it. Meanwhile, they re-opened Master of Pottery on the Steam store for the China region. Many players sent their best wishes to the developers on Steam and social media.