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China’s video game crackdown: state-backed industry group plays down regulatory moves as narrow and targeted

  • The China Game Publishers Association Publications Committee said games are not ‘fierce floods or savage beasts’ and that they can benefit society
  • The group’s words countered a news article that called games ‘spiritual opium’, pushing down gaming stocks over fears of a fresh crackdown

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A child plays the game “Honour of Kings”, Tencent’s largest game by revenue, at home in Dezhou, Shandong province, on July 2, 2017. Fears of a broader gaming crackdown in China sent related stocks sinking, but an industry group says the government is only targeting addiction among underage players. Photo: Reuters
Josh Ye

China’s state-backed gaming industry association broke its silence on Tuesday night, following a market rout earlier in the day, saying online games are not “fierce floods or savage beasts” and emphasising that Beijing’s regulation of the industry is specific and targeted.

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In an interview with the Chinese newspaper 21st Century Business Herald, the China Game Publishers Association Publications Committee (GPC) said video gaming can bring benefits to society and are able to “broadcast positive energy”. The GPC’s words pushed back on an earlier report from the Economic Information Daily , run by the state-owned Xinhua News Agency, that called video games “spiritual opium”, which sent gaming stocks plummeting on Tuesday.

GPC is the gaming arm of China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, a group that answers directly to the Chinese Communist Party Central Propaganda Department.

Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and NetEase, the country’s two largest gaming companies, were the hardest hit on Tuesday. By Wednesday, Tencent had gained 5 per cent in the morning session in Hong Kong.

The original report from Economic Information Daily fanned fears that the video games industry was the next target of regulators after a crackdown from Beijing on the online private education market sent Chinese technology stocks plummeting. The newspaper deleted the report later in the day, only to republish it in the evening without the controversial “spiritual opium” line.

China’s regulations are focused on improving the monitoring of underage players, GPC said in the interview, and they are already strict enough and largely effective. The association said this is because developers are able to put systems in place that help them meet regulatory requirements.

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“Leading [gaming] companies have relatively strict screening systems for players and they can immediately take action if any violation is spotted,” the association said.

Gaming addiction has been an ongoing concern of the Chinese government for years. President Xi Jinping even mentioned it this year at a meeting of the National People’s Congress.
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