Jiang Zemin, the former President of the People’s Republic of China, died on November 30 at the age of 96 as a result of complications from leukemia. A memorial service was held in Beijing on the morning of December 6 in his honor. Public entertainment activities should be suspended for the day – including online games like LoL and CS:GO.
What is behind the game shutdowns? China mourns the loss of politician and former President Jiang Zemin. He died on November 30 as a result of leukemia. He was 96 years old.
A memorial service has been announced for the morning of December 6th. Public entertainment should be largely suspended for the day. As a mark of respect and sadness, several major Chinese online games had announced that they would suspend operations for the day.
Daniel Ahmad, who reports on the Asian gaming market on Twitter, even writes that all online games have been shut down for the day. However, this only affects servers on the Chinese mainland, European and North American services should not be restricted (via Twitter).
The screenshot shared by Daniel Ahmad shows a Chinese game’s website. This is apparently displayed as a sign of mourning in black and white.
Which games are affected? All online games in China are said to be suspended for the day. Among other things, Tencent, which operates the multiplayer game Honor of Kings, announced that it would shut down its games for December 6th.
This should also affect games like League of Legends and Call of Duty Online. CS:GO will also not be available in China due to an update on that day.
Additionally, miHoYo (Genshin Impact) and NetEase (Identity V) had announced they would shut down their games for the day.
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Why are the games turned off at all? It may seem unusual in this country that the entire entertainment industry shuts down for the funeral of a politician. But as the US magazine Dexerto reports, a state funeral in China is a national day of mourning.
Therefore, according to Chinese law, there are restrictions on various activities to allow the population to mourn the deceased.
Valve also had to comply with Chinese law and suspend CS:GO’s online services for the day. However, players outside of China should not be affected.
As Daniel Ahmad reports, there was already a similar incident in April 2020. At that time, online games were shut down to commemorate those who lost their lives to Corona (via Twitter).
Even without a national bereavement, gamers in China are repeatedly restricted. In November, Blizzard announced that it would no longer be working with the Chinese company NetEase in the coming year. You can read about the effects of this here:
No more WoW and Overwatch 2 in China – Almost all Blizzard games will no longer be available in China in 2023