Gaming addiction has become a serious global issue, especially in China as it is one of the biggest gaming markets. However, in a bid to prevent certain predatory practices by gaming companies, the country is planning to unveil a new set of laws to limit microtransactions which have affected the stocks of major Chinese corporations like Tencent.
As reported by Reuters, Chinese lawmakers unveiled new laws on video games. These laws will ban rewards for spending money within a game for the first time, ban rewards for buying consecutive microtransactions, and ban rewards for daily log-ins all of which have become commonplace in many free-to-play games.
The new laws will also cap how much each player can spend within a game.
Following the unveiling, Tencent Holdings’ shares fell 16% at one point, and China’s next biggest gaming company, NetEase, fell as much as 25% making up the bulk of an $80 billion (RM370 billion) total selloff in China’s gaming market over the recent days.
However, in more recent news, it was stated that Chinese authorities have said they may revise newly drafted online gaming rules shortly after the planned restrictions caused major tech companies to lose billions of dollars.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that the authorities have heard the “concerns and opinions raised by all parties”, adding that “the State Press and Publication Administration will study them carefully and further revise and improve them”, referring to the media regulator.
What do you think of the proposed set of laws? Let us know in the comments.
Also read: China Is Using Facial Recognition To Block Children From Playing Mobile Games After 10pm
