China's video game industry should not be profit-driven at all costs but do more to tackle the addiction of younger people, regulators have urged as Beijing tightens regulation of a very lucrative field.
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Video games represent an important financial windfall in China: they generated 17 billion euros in turnover in the first half of 2021 alone. Some Chinese children can spend entire days glued to their screens.
But this phenomenon is increasingly criticized in the country for its harmful effects: loss of vision, impact on school results, lack of physical activity or risk of addiction.
Tencent and NetEase convened
Chinese regulators summoned industry giants, including companies Tencent and NetEase, on Wednesday.
They were urged to "
break away from the sole objective of making a profit [...] and changing the rules of games that can create addiction,
" the official China New News Agency reported.
Industry giants have also been asked to "
strictly enforce
" under-18 playing time regulations, according to New China.
To fight against youth addiction, Beijing imposed at the end of August that minors can only play online for a maximum of three hours per week.
And only on weekends, public holidays and during school holidays, at the rate of one hour per day.
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"
Obscene and violent content [in video games], as well as those that promote unhealthy tendencies, such as the cult of money and effeminacy, must be removed
", also urged regulators, quoted by New China . Communist power had already banned certain reality TV programs last week and ordered broadcasters to convey a more masculine image of men.
Faced with a drop in the birth rate in the country, Beijing criticizes the effeminate allure of certain celebrities, inspired in particular by Korean pop stars. These measures unscrewed the main names in the sector on Thursday. Tencent shares lost 6.65% in the early afternoon on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its competitor NetEase lost 6.84% and the Bilibili site, popular with fans of cartoons, manga and video games, was down by almost 7%.