Available for up to 16 hours per day for about a month
Must log in only between 8 PM and 9 PM on holidays
China's largest gaming company Tencent announced a policy restricting daily gaming hours ahead of the winter vacation and the Spring Festival holidays.
According to Chinese local media Pengpai News on the 9th, Tencent Games announced the "2024 Winter Vacation and Spring Festival Holiday Minor Gaming Time Restriction Notice." The main point is that minor users will only be able to log in and play games from 8 PM to 9 PM on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays during the Spring Festival from the 22nd of this month until the 24th of next month.
Tencent Games explained, "Minors should reasonably adjust their time and play moderately," adding, "Tencent Games has comprehensively upgraded addiction prevention measures such as real-name verification, time-limited charging, and facial recognition to allow minors to play games for a total of only 16 hours during the winter vacation." Additionally, the company introduced a parental service that, for the first time in the industry, allows parents of minor users to manage and control the gaming environment according to personalized requirements set by the parents.
Earlier, on the 22nd of last month, China's National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) released a draft of game management measures banning marketing strategies by game companies that induce users through daily login rewards, new user bonuses, and consecutive login rewards. The draft included restrictions on monetization products such as daily login rewards, first recharge bonuses, and consecutive recharge rewards; prohibition of user-to-user trading of game items in the form of speculation and auctions; ban on legal currency exchange; notifications through warning pop-ups for excessive spending; and prohibition of forced battles between users. For youth protection, the draft also contained regulations such as controlling gaming hours and spending limits, restricting probability-based items and enforcing real-name registration, and banning high-value rewards for internet game broadcasts.
After the regulatory proposal caused a sharp drop in gaming stocks and market impact, the largest-ever issuance of game licenses was approved. According to local media, three days after the announcement of the management draft, the NPPA issued 105 game licenses to major game companies including Tencent and NetEase. The number of licenses issued last year was 1,075, a significant increase from 748 in 2021 and 512 in 2022.
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