China Has Resolved Its Youth Game Addiction Problem, Top Industry Body Claims

According to recent comments by the China Game Industry Group Committee, China has managed to “resolve” the youth addiction to video games. The comment was first reported by Reuters after noticing it in a China Game Industry Group Committee statement.

Although nothing substantial has been presented to support the claim, one of the most significant indication in support of the comment is China’s decision to ease the curbs of new title approval.

The China Game Industry Group Committee is country top gaming industry association affiliated China Game Industry Research Institute, the online game publishing regulator and also CNG, the data provider.

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Data provider CNG, the co-author of the report, also revealed more details around the progress made by China. According to them, more than 75% of young gamers from China have now started spending less than three hours a week on screen.

CNG even applauded the Chinese gaming companies for trying their best in overcoming the national issue and putting their entire systems in place to fight the youth addiction.

The report specifically mentions companies such as Tencent Holdings, NetEase and Perfect World among several other for their exemplary efforts.

Meanwhile, Niko Partners, a market research and consulting firm covering the Asia video games market, believe that the constantly declining revenues in China supports the claim made in the China Game Industry Group Committee report and the youth really seem to have a found a way out of this addiction.

Niko Partners founder and president Lisa Cosmas Hanson said that “momentum in the economy, esports, PC gaming, and enthusiasm among China’s 700 million-plus gamers,” the future appears positive.

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“With the restart of game approvals and adjustment to youth regulations at a local level, we are seeing a more positive outlook start to develop,” Hanson added.

Since 2021, Chinese government implemented extreme gaming restriction in the country and has often attacked the entire eco-system of gaming industry. Videos games were publicly called “spiritual opium” after Covid lockdowns in country resulted in more and more young people spending more time in front of the screen.

Some of the sevear gaming restrictions imposed by Chinese govenment include a blanket ban from gaming for over three hours in a week.

The Chinese government has often said that the increase in young gaming addiction is inviting a lot of health troubles such as rising “myopia,” poor concentration, mental-health problems, and sleep disorders.

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The gaming industry in China has been severely hit but the regulations since the freeze new titles approvals has been pushing the industry on its edge. The Chinese government curbs were a well-thoughout crackdown on the giant technology sector, including the world’s biggest video-games companies – Tencent. The crackdown was followed by crafty loopholes to play around with the government restrictions and easily bypass new rules.

A Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper, while speaking about young people finding ways to bypass the new rules, said, “On some online trading platforms, there are game account rental and sales businesses, users can bypass the supervision by renting and buying accounts and playing online games without restrictions. This means that there are still loopholes for teenagers to enter online gaming, which is worthy of attention.”

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