Even setting aside the Blitzchung fiasco that sent China’s video game industry into the spotlight at the tail end of 2019, the western games press has been covering the China situation for rather a long time, from the big “freeze” on games approvals in the region a few years go to the ongoing fixation on “healthy gaming” for children that’s turned into draconian curfews and (effective) pressure of WHO into contriving what many academics have criticized as the scientifically sketchy “gaming disorder” classification.
China’s ruling party has renewed its focus on video games at the top of 2019, as it’s now issued a new press release asserting that “mental disorders” among minors is on the rise and lists several steps organizations and branches are required to take to address them. Under the “Healthy China 2030” initiative, everything from online games to streams seems to be up for regulation. As Gamasutra points out, it’s not entirely clear from the document how local governments and organizations are to carry out these initiatives, but given the curfews, content bans, and invasive facial recognition lockouts of the last few years, it’s not too hard to guess.
“Management departments such as press and publication, online information, radio and television shall strengthen the supervision of online content, timely discover and clean up illegal and harmful publications and information related to children and adolescents on the Internet, and focus on investigating online games, live broadcasts, short messages Video, educational apps, etc., crack down on online gambling, bloody violence, vulgar pornography and other websites and apps, and create a good online environment for children and young people.”
Further reading:
• China’s National Radio and Television Administration bans access to livestreams of unapproved games
• Tencent to cut off Chinese gamers accessing unapproved foreign titles through an internet speed booster
• MMO Business Roundup: China’s freeze, ABK’s new diversity officer, and Sony and Epic’s metaverse
• China’s continued freeze on new gaming approvals sees 14,000 gaming firms in the country shut down
• Steam’s global version appears to have been blocked in China
• Fortnite is closing down in China on November 15
• MMO Business Roundup: China’s crackdown, the COVID bubble, MY.GAMES hires, and the Shatterline leak
• China adds new rules against games with ‘effeminate males’ and ‘blurred moral boundaries’
• Regulators in China and the UK turn their eyes toward streaming, gaming currency
• Tencent, Netease hit with stock losses amid China’s gaming industry clampdown
• China’s new kid gaming time regulations are already causing industry trainwrecks
• China now limits minors’ gaming time to three hours a week, indicates anti-monopoly policies are forthcoming
• Krafton’s IPO launch didn’t go to plan thanks to China and Tencent
• Tencent reacts to Chinese state media calling online games ‘spiritual opium’ by adding new restrictions
• China’s video game regulators introduce a three-tier age rating system for games
• MMO Business Roundup: Tencent facial recognition, Chinese gaming regulation, anti-cheat, and hackers
• China is cracking down on online games and streaming even more with ‘Healthy China 2030’
• China is really adding that youth gaming curfew and block on sex and gore in games
• Lawful Neutral: What’s China really worth to the Western gaming industry?
• Mark Kern didn’t just quit WoW Classic: He accused his old Firefall studio of Chinese corruption
• Newly proposed Chinese gaming regulations target romantic plotlines and sexual content
• Tencent gives up on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds being approved in China
• China reveals new regulatory system for online video games after more than a year of confusion
• MMO Business Roundup: Prince Harry vs Fortnite, China’s big thaw, Gamigo’s new acquisition, and industry transparency
• China puts a freeze on new game approval (again)
• China is approving games again, but none of them is from Tencent or Netease
• China’s Online Games Ethics Committee lifts year-long ‘freeze’ on game licenses but bars multiple games
• Tencent is pulling back its marketing budget in response to China’s ongoing game freeze
• Tencent is expanding draconian ‘healthy gaming’ child blocks across all of its titles
• Tencent is working on locking kids out of Chinese games using facial recognition tech
• Here’s what’s going on with China’s video game approval process in simple terms
• Tencent’s market value dropped by $20B following new Chinese gaming regulation plans
• The World Health Organization advances its ‘gaming disorder’ classification in spite of heavy criticism
• Nexon is heavily affected by China’s new game import laws
• Pokemon Go: Increasing physical activity in the US, blockaded in China
• China bans streaming games not approved by the Ministry of Culture
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