Tencent denied claims that they not only forbid black people from appearing in their films and games, but also that they insist on female characters having larger breasts.
The claim was made by Alanah Pearce a former games journalist, Santa Monica Studio games writer, and voice actress. In an interview with Twitch streamer The Serfs, Pearce discussed Chinese tech and media giant, Tencent.
“They also have a bunch of problematic sh-t,” Pearce denounced. “I have a friend who had a film that was offered to be made by Tencent, or funded by Tencent, and they were like ‘no black people!’ ‘Bigger tits!'”
“Like, a lot of rules that they have […] that I think also has had a hand in you know, some AAA games,” Pearce speculated, before hastily adding “Again I don’t wanna speak on any of this because I’m so worried about getting sued by Tencent.”
“But this is what I’ve heard, rumors, not sure if any of this is true,” Pearce emphasized. “But even games that are out, where they were like ‘Yeah that character needs to have bigger tits’ or ‘You need to make her skin lighter’ type s**t.”
“Again, I know that more of the film industry, and that’s outside of content that’s like ‘no ghosts!'” Pearce explained, mentioning Chinese media typically banning depictions of ghosts, spirits, and the undead. “They just have weird rules like that.”
“I think we should be way more concerned about Tencent than we should be about Microsoft,” Pearce insisted, regarding their recent efforts to acquire Activision Blizzard.
In a statement to The Gamer, Tencent stated “The views attributed to Tencent by Alanah Pearce are contrary to our beliefs, culture and values. At this point they are also just rumors. But we do take the matter seriously, and if it turns out someone affiliated with Tencent did in fact make such a statement we will take appropriate action.”
While state-mandated media censorship in China is well known, China has also shown outright rejection of black actors and characters. This ranges from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Black Adam both being denied a release in China, and the Chinese Star Wars: The Force Awakens posters reducing the size of John Boyega’s Finn.
Actor John Boyega also quit being the Jo Malone global ambassador, after being replaced by a Chinese actor Liu Haoran for the Chinese region.
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While Tencent allegedly rejecting black characters would make sense given how the country’s censors have previously reacted, it may be a surprise that they allegedly pushed for larger chested women. Ever since the Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign of 1983, China has banned pornography.
As such, fan-service is also under scrutiny. New regulations in 2021 emphasized the ban on “exposure” such as panty-shots, and showing prostitutes — and likely other smutty characters that act against the Communist Chinese government’s values.
Despite this, there are gacha games with scantily clad female characters operating in China. While typically censoring their clothing or restricting how the camera can move, they keep their physique. Though there have been incidents of characters being outright removed such as in Azur Lane.
Likewise, censorship in western games from Chinese studios has been met with speculation that the developers are complying with China’s policies at the expense of their own domestic fans.
In October last year, Nexon announced Blue Archive would split into censored and uncensored versions — aside from the Korean and Global versions. Along with having received warnings from the Korean Game Rating and Administration Committee, the global version had previously met demands from Chinese censors.
However, the allegation is muddled when looking at Tencent Pictures’ filmography, particularly in joint ventures as a production company on western films. These include Kong: Skull Island, Wonder Woman, Venom, Bumblebee, Men in Black: International, Terminator: Dark Fate, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Monster Hunter, Extinct, Moonfall, and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre.
The above feature black actors and actresses in some roles, and aren’t particularly famed for having well-endowed actresses. Was Pearce’s source mistaken? Or have Tencent met resistance when making similar demands in the past?
