Weekly Anime & Game in Asia 2026-W37 (2026-09-01~2026-09-07)

The National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), China’s regulator for commercial game operations, issued publishing licenses—known as banhao—to three titles utilizing South Korean intellectual property this week. The Seal Online title is being developed under a contract with China’s Kaiying Network. Krafton, meanwhile, discussed raising cumulative direct investment in India to USD 500M and is running its own talent pipeline there. Elsewhere, Game File reports that roughly 80% of Bit Reactor’s development staff are on unpaid leave; separately, its co-founders contest ownership of the studio in court.

This Week’s Events

Developer-Led Publishing and a Debut Hit

Developers that succeeded in game development are increasingly entering publishing, as Pocketpair and thatgamecompany have. Battlestate Games, the Russian developer behind the hardcore first-person shooter Escape from Tarkov, announced the formation of Battlestate Games Publishing this week. The division is soliciting submissions for projects deemed too hardcore or too brutal by other publishers; the studio says it built Escape from Tarkov out of ideas others had rejected and wants to do the same for other people’s games. Separately, Rebel Wolves, a Polish studio, saw its debut open-world action RPG, The Blood of Dawnwalker, surpass 1 million units in global sales within three days of its September 3 release. Bandai Namco Entertainment, a Japanese publisher, published the title.

Bit Reactor, the developer of the recently released Star Wars: Zero Company, has reportedly placed approximately 80% of its development staff on unpaid leave (Game File, citing sources; the studio declined to confirm the scale), under a decision it says was made internally several weeks before release, not mandated by EA or Disney. The title reached a peak of over 77,000 concurrent players on Steam. Separately, co-founders Greg Foertsch and Alison Kelly are in an ownership dispute: Kelly claims damages exceeding USD 20M, and the case is scheduled for trial in 2027.

Market Access and Community Infrastructure

The NPPA issued banhao on August 28 to Korean-IP titles including Cookie Run: Tower of Adventures, Solo Leveling: Arise, and Seal Online. The Seal Online title is being developed under a contract with China’s Kaiying Network, and Devsisters says it will prepare the Chinese launch of its title with a local publisher. Separately, the launch of the browser-based cloud gaming platform viviON GAMES provides a technical solution for PC-first developers to enter the mobile market without internal porting expertise. By handling conversion, debugging, and optimization for a buy-to-play model, viviON GAMES allows developers to retain over 50% of sales revenue, targeting lapsed PC gamers who lack the hardware for dedicated PC play.

The acquisition of SteamDB by Chosen, the parent company of the mod hosting platform Nexus Mods, formalizes another layer of critical community infrastructure. SteamDB, which provides third-party data on concurrent player counts and regional pricing, has long functioned as an essential utility for the PC industry. By integrating the service into a corporate structure, Chosen aims to mitigate the key-person risk associated with the platform’s reliance on individual maintainers. A stated long-term goal is connecting SteamDB’s game build and version history with Nexus Mods’ management tools.

Acquisitions, New Brands, and Roadmaps

Supercell, the Finnish mobile developer, signed a contract to acquire the remaining shares of Metacore, the developer of the puzzle game Merge Mansion, with the transaction scheduled to close at the end of September 2026. Metacore said it expects Supercell’s global live-game operating experience to support Merge Mansion’s long-term growth.

Cygames, the Japanese studio behind the Granblue Fantasy franchise, announced the CygamesEdge brand, which is dedicated to small-to-medium-scale development. The first title, Horaku no Kuni, is scheduled for release on November 5, 2026, and is meant to use the agility of small and mid-sized development to attempt experimental, sharply distinctive game experiences.

2K, the American publisher, detailed a structured roadmap for Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, transitioning from rapid post-launch support to a long-term, expansion-led lifecycle. The plan includes the free “Arc of Tomorrow” update in 2027 and the first paid expansion, “Earthrise,” following a September 2026 technical update. Update frequency will decrease after that update as development concentrates on the long term.

Krafton is transitioning its Indian operations from content distribution to structural integration. Chairman Jang Byung-gyu met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week to discuss increasing direct investment to USD 500M and establishing a USD 670M venture growth fund. By launching the KIGI Academy at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Krafton is building a local talent pipeline to support its global development requirements.

Other Developments

Amazon Prime Video announced that it will offer HBO Max as a subscription add-on in Japan starting October 1, 2026, with a Standard Plan at JPY 1,000 and a Premium Plan at JPY 1,400 per month. The add-on includes the upcoming HBO original Harry Potter drama series, and HBO Max joins Prime Video’s expanding lineup of subscription partners in Japan.

NVIDIA reversed its initial restriction on DLSS 5, announcing that the AI-driven rendering technology will be expanded to support the GeForce RTX 40 series. The technology uses AI to generate lighting and material details in real-time, which is why it is so computationally demanding. Performance testing indicates a 60% to 73% frame rate reduction at high resolutions.

Data from Niko Partners confirms the scale of the Chinese gaming market, which reached USD 51.8B in 2025, with projections of USD 53.9B in 2026. Short-form video is the primary discovery channel, and mini-games account for 20% of mobile spending.

Kura Sushi announced the immediate cancellation of its collaboration campaign with the Chiikawa franchise following confirmed employee misconduct regarding the handling of promotional goods. The cancellation covers every campaign element, down to the collaboration menu and the in-store decorations, though the company says television commercials announcing the campaign continue to air.

Looking Ahead

• Monitor the operational performance of the newly licensed Korean titles in China, specifically the user acquisition metrics for Solo Leveling: Arise following its eventual launch.
• Track subscriber adoption of the HBO Max add-on in Japan throughout Q4 2026 and the reception of the upcoming Harry Potter drama series.
• Observe the progress of the Bit Reactor ownership lawsuit ahead of the 2027 trial, specifically any court-ordered disclosures regarding the studio’s financial health, which remains a critical factor in its current operational instability.
• Track the deployment of Krafton’s additional USD 250M investment in India over the next three to four years and the recruitment metrics of the KIGI Academy.

Company in Focus

Battlestate Games — a studio based in St. Petersburg, Russia, whose legal entity is registered in the UK, built around the Escape from Tarkov franchise since 2016. It sold Escape from Tarkov exclusively through its own launcher and website for most of that run, reaching Steam only in 2025, so players bought it without ever passing through a platform storefront.