Is China allowing people to play video games

Xinhua reports that the General Administration of Press and Publication and the National Anti-Pornography Counter-Illegal Publishing Task Force have banned the sale of 50 "illegal electronic games." To quote the article:According to an explanation of the General Administration of Press and ...

When I spoke to video game industry workers inside Tencent and NetEase – none of whom were willing to provide their names – they framed China’s strict censorship rules as just one element of a global market in which all governments restrict culture. In Russia, for instance, portraying LGBT characters can lead to a ban.

The video game industry in China currently is one of the major markets for the global video game industry, where more than half a billion people play video games. Revenues from China make up around 25% of the nearly US$100 billion global video game industry as of 2018.

In August 2021, China's strict limits on how long minors can play online video games got stricter. Chinese children and teenagers are barred from online gaming on school days, and limited to one hour a day on weekend and holiday evenings. A new law passed in November 2019 limits children under 18 to less than 90 minutes of playing video games on weekdays and three hours on weekends, with no video game playing allowed ...

GameSpace. Retrieved 28 May 2023. 1 2 Amjad, Talha (11 December 2018). "Fortnite, PUBG, Paladins Banned In China For Blood And Sexual Content". Power Up Gaming. Retrieved 28 May 2023. ↑ "No cults, no politics, no ghouls: how China censors the video game world".

High-profile bans have hit everything ... Chinese market. Beyond outright bans, China also imposes strict playtime caps on minors and requires real-name identity verification for all players....

After a nine-month freeze on new licences from mid-2021, approvals have not just recovered but hit a multi-year high: 1,771 games approved in 2025, up 25%, the most since 2018 (Niko Partners).

China leads global gaming with a 24.2% share, surpassing the US and South Korea. Heavy regulation stumbles Seoul as China dominates via AI and mobile exports.

According to Statista, the number of gamers in China rose steadily between 2012 and 2021 and reached 666 million. However, in 2022, this figure dropped to 664 million, the result of a decrease in the number of young people playing video games ...