China cleans up mobile phone games market

The Ministry of Culture has named and shamed various online platforms promoting inapprpriate games.

Cellphone games have been a goldmine with a short development period, wide promotional channels and strong sales. Meanwhile, public complaints over improprieties in these games have also been increasing fast, said a ministry statement released on Friday.

Investigations based on public tip-offs found games and online platforms, including website 9game.cn and software "360 mobile phone assistant", either included gambling content, lured players to invest money or were being operated without official licences.

The ministry told the websites and games to rectify their misconduct by Dec 31, or face administrative punishment.