Chinese regulators limit play time for children to 15 hours per month during school holidays

Chinese children will be limited to a total video game time of around 15 hours during their month-long winter school break, under strict rules intended to prevent them from becoming addicted to games.

Tencent Holdings and NetEase, China’s two largest video game companies, have signaled their adherence to current regulations, which total no more than 16 hours during the school holidays that begin in mid-January.

Tencent, which operates the world’s largest video game company by revenue, said Thursday that children under 18 can play for up to 15 hours between Jan. 13 and Feb. 13, while that its smaller rival NetEase has limited play time for minors to 15 hours maximum. 4 p.m. between January 15 and February 14.

A time limit for young gamers – one hour per day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays – was imposed by the Chinese regulator in August 2021, amid concerns that too many young people were becoming addicted to video games. However, there is no limit to the time spent engaging in other online entertainment, such as short videos.

Despite the strict limits, the Chinese government has softened its stance on video games, looking at hit titles like Dark myth Wukong as a powerful tool to help promote Chinese culture. China’s video game licensing authority, the National Press and Publication Administration, approved more than 1,400 titles last year – including 1,306 domestic games and 110 from foreign publishers – the most highest since 2019.