Kids can only play games for 90 minutes a day in China
Tencent and NetEase proactively enforced some of the new measures, which also say children under 16 can only spend US$28 on microtransactions
China is now telling kids when they can play games and how much money they can spend.
Under a new law, gamers under 18 years old are banned from playing games for more than 90 minutes each day. On holidays, the government will cut you some slack and let you play for a whopping three hours.
On top of that, the time spent gaming has to be between 8am and 10pm, because companies are now forbidden from allowing underage kids to play games overnight.
Meet NetEase, China’s second-largest game publisher
There’s even more bad news for kids who love decking out their characters with clothing and weapons purchased in games. China has new limits on how much underage players can spend, and companies can no longer offer paid services to users under 8 years old. Players between 8 and 16 can spend up to 200 yuan (US$28) per month, while that limit goes up to 400 yuan (US$57) for people between 16 and 18.
Xuan Li, co-founder of Chinese game publisher Zodiac Interactive, called the new law “a game changer.”
The notice on preventing minors from online gaming addiction, revealed in a government Q&A with state media, is China’s harshest gaming law yet to target underage gaming. State media estimates that there are more than 170 million minors online, accounting for about 20 per cent of the country’s total netizen population.