Xinhua announced that the Chinese government will impose an even stricter restriction to online gaming for people under 18 years old. Minors residing in China will only be allowed to play online games for an hour on weekends and holidays. [Thanks, 4Gamer.]
Previous guidelines instructed companies in China to limit online gaming hours for minors to 1.5 hours on weekdays and 3 hours on weekends and holidays. The new regulation will further restrict online gaming time in the country. Minors will now be allowed to play online games only from 8 PM to 9 PM on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.
In addition, the Chinese government will also force stricter implementations of using real names as a requirement to register online game accounts. It will deal harshly against online game companies that have not imposed real name registrations or provided login records.
In recent years, companies in China have been imposing restrictions to comply with the government’s policy to curb online gaming addiction for minors. In 2019, Tencent gradually raised its digital lock age limit for minors to access online-based mobile games like PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings. In March 2020, Bilibili implemented a Health System that restricts gaming periods for popular titles on its platform, including Azur Lane and Fate/Grand Order.
