China has announced to impose a curfew on online gaming, targeting the minors from spending too much time playing games after online gaming garnered criticism from people regarding its effects on children’s health.
The official guideline which was released on Tuesday has allocated time limit for minors to spend on playing games.
According to the guideline, gamers under the age of 18 will be restricted from playing online after 22:00 to 08:00. Furthermore, they can only spend 90 minutes of gaming on weekdays and three hours on weekends and holiday.
Similarly, the guidelines also include the limitation on money spent on playing online games. Gamers between the ages of eight and 16 can only spend up to 200 Yuan while those gamers aged between 16 and 18 can play online games worth of 400 Yuan per month on their gaming account.
China has been enacting different gaming regulators since 2018 in order to curb video game addiction such as from restricting online gaming time and age-restrictions. Imposing curfew on online game for minors is China’s latest step to control the addiction.
China is the second-largest gaming market in the world after US surpassed the global revenue this year for the first time. The shift in the ranking in the gaming revenue was attributed to China’s increased regulation on gaming industry, research film Newzoo showed.