(Yicai Global) March 21 -- Bilibili’s shares jumped after the Chinese version of popular Japanese mobile game Uma Musume Pretty Derby, for which the video site operator is the exclusive distributor in China, was included in China’s first batch of foreign game licenses this year.

Bilibili [HKG: 9626] closed 6.9 percent higher at HKD181 (USD23.08) as share in Hong Kong today. Its New York-listed stock [NASDAQ: BILI] closed up 6.5 percent at USD23.63 yesterday.

Pretty Derby's Chinese version was among the 27 foreign game titles the National Press and Publication Administration yesterday approved for release in China. It was the first time the media watchdog had granted licenses for imported games this year.

Tokyo-based developer Cygames released Pretty Derby in February 2021 and also adapted it as an anime television series, which is scheduled to air a third season this year.

The Chinese versions of Merge Mansion, distributed by Tencent Holdings, the world's largest video games developer, and Audition: Everybody Party, operated by leading online gaming firm NetEase, also made the cut. And Shanghai-based Yostar Games saw its Chinese version of Blue Archive, a popular game developed by South Korea's Nexon, approved by the media regulator.

In the past few years, China has only handed out game licenses in the second half. This year, the first crop was approved much earlier and less than three months after last year's final set.

A few months ago, rumors said the NPPA would speed up the approval process of imported games and increase the number of permits awarded. The rumors appear to be true, an industry insider told Yicai Global.

The pace has accelerated since the regulator resumed issuing permits last April. In the first two months of 2023, the watchdog greenlighted 175 domestic titles. Those and the 27 imported games licensed yesterday equal about 40 percent of the total number approved last year.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione