China quietly pulls draft gaming rules from website

Today, the Chinese raiding guild Skyline (天涯) is officially retiring, citing financial burden and general exhaustion over seven years of competitive raiding. Widely regarded as the most accomplished group of eastern raiders, Skyline finished top 10 in every single Race to World First since the launch of Battle for Azeroth, including the #8 spot in Amirdrassil, despite stalling for nearly a thousand pulls against Tindral Sageswift.

From Software owner Kadokawa has purchased Japanese development studio Acquire for an undisclosed sum.

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU is now discounted down to an incredible price of just $280 US in China as a part of a promotional deal.

Samsung Electronics Co. will feature Baidu Inc.'s Ernie Bot as a key attraction of its new Galaxy S24 smartphone series in China.

AI roundup: Satya Nadella will be visiting India as part of his annual visit on February 7, 2024. On his agenda would be to explore various AI opportunities and for that, he would be meeting leaders in Indian startups space. Chinese authorities have started the approval process for AI models and already approved 40 models. Know more about AI happenings here.

AMD's Radeon RX 6750 GRE GPU has been making highlights in China as Team Red implements "strict" price control measures to ensure a balanced supply.

2024 has already proven to be a difficult year for layoffs. A handful of companies have been making job cuts in recent weeks, bringing uncertainty for workers across industries.

Chinese developer Kuro Game has released new information about its upcoming game, Wuthering Waves, confirming the game's second beta test and PlayStation versions. Kuro Game first announced the game in 2022 as a new action RPG with many fans drawing comparisons to Genshin Impact with its fast-paced and fluid combat. Early trailers saw Wuthering Waves showcase similar gameplay to «hack-and-slash» games, putting an emphasis on difficulty and timing with the players' inputs. Now, excited fans are set to learn more about the game with its second closed beta test.

Square Enix has revealed that several people have been criminally charged for distributing counterfeit merchandise in China.

NVIDIA has been declared the "undisputed leader" of AI, as the company's global AI chip market share is estimated to have reached up to 90%, setting a new record.

Apple iPhone was the top-selling smartphone series in China for the first time last year, a surprisingly strong showing in the face of fierce local competition and expanding government prohibitions against the American company's technology. The iPhone ranked first in shipments in the fourth quarter and 2023 overall, market tracker IDC said. It came after several analysts, including Jefferies, said iPhone sales tanked in the fourth quarter due to a lull in enthusiasm for the Cupertino, California company's latest generation of hardware in the world's biggest smartphone market. IDC also noted rising competition from domestic names like a resurgent Huawei Technologies Co., but timely discounts and promotions helped reduce the harm for Apple. 

China's previously proposed gaming restrictions seem to have been scrapped, potentially avoiding worldwide implications for tools that can encourage spending excessive time and money on games.