By Clarence Leong


Shares of Chinese game developers including Bilibili Inc. and Kingsoft Corp. rose Wednesday in Hong Kong after regulators approved dozens of games for release, marking the second consecutive month of approvals after an extended pause.

Bilibili, Kingsoft Corp. and iDreamSky Technology Holdings Ltd., whose games were among the 67 titles approved Tuesday, gained 4.3%, 5.3% and 4.6%, respectively, by the midday trading break. The batch of approvals was the third this year after a nine-month pause that had unsettled investors, dragging down share prices.

"The two consecutive months of approvals should address market concerns about industry trends," Jefferies analysts led by Thomas Chong said in a note. They added that they believe "quality content [is] a crucial factor for new games to be released in the future."

Notably missing from the approvals were any games from market leaders Tencent Holdings Ltd. and NetEase Inc., neither of which had games approved in the earlier rounds in April and June this year. Tencent's shares slipped 0.2%, while NetEase was up 2.7%.

Goldman Sachs analysts said in note prior to the latest approvals that investors are watching closely to see if games by Tencent or NetEase will be approved, as well as for an updated launch date for NetEase's China release of "Diablo Immortal," a game co-developed with U.S. gaming giant Activision Blizzard Inc. The game's release in China was delayed last month, with NetEase citing the need to improve performance and add support for more devices.


Write to Clarence Leong at clarence.leong@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-13-22 0147ET