China massively restricts gaming

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The Chinese government regulates the computer game industry in the People’s Republic and its users at the same time. They are only allowed to gamble for a total of three hours on the weekend – if they are minors.

From Monday to Thursday you are no longer allowed to gamble online. China only allows video games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but only between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. This means that children and young people in the People’s Republic are officially only allowed to play three hours a week. Restrictions have already applied so far. Previously, minors were allowed to play at least 1.5 hours a day – three a day on weekends and during holidays.

The government had ensured early on that those affected could not circumvent the regulations. In China, users have had to identify themselves with their identity card data since 2020 if they want to create an account. The Chinese gaming giant Tencent, whose “Honor of Kings” records 100 million players per day, also wants to use facial recognition to prevent minors from using the accounts of older players.

The Chinese government will certainly not rely on that. Online game providers have to adjust to tougher controls. The question is how far Beijing will take regulation. In early August, the state newspaper Economic Information Daily described online games as “electronic drugs” and “intellectual opium” with “shocking effects” on minors. The providers would exploit “human weaknesses” in order to bind players to their game.

So it is not surprising that the new regulation is officially positioned as an instrument in the fight against gambling addiction, as the state news agency Xinhua reports. The shares of Tencent and other online game publishers fell after the new rules became known – if only moderately.