Beijing, Jan 9 (EFE).- Tencent, China\u2019s largest online gaming operator, announced Tuesday that minors would be able to play for a maximum of 16 hours during the winter holidays and the Lunar New Year, from Jan. 22 to Feb. 24.<\/p>
A statement published Tuesday said minors would be able to play between 8pm and 9pm local time on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and during the holiday period.<\/p>
“We remind underage players to rationally organize their time and play in a moderate manner,” the statement read.<\/p>
In addition to playtime restrictions, Tencent is also implementing a series of anti-video game addiction measures, such as real-name authentication, time-limited payments, and facial recognition for account activation.<\/p>
This measure follows those already implemented last June by the major Chinese online gaming companies Tencent, NetEase and MihaYou, which announced the launch of a limited gaming calendar for minors during the summer holidays, supported by Artificial Intelligence.<\/p>
China announced a new series of regulations in December to limit spending and rewards that encourage video games within the framework of measures to prevent addiction to this type of recreation.<\/p>
The regulations published then by the National Press and Publications Administration \u2013 the regulatory body for print and digital publications \u2013 establish spending limits for online games.<\/p>
In 2021, Chinese authorities restricted minors’ access to online video games to three hours a week with the stated goal of “effectively protecting the mental and physical health” and “healthy growth” of young people.<\/p>
Regulations in 2021 made 2022 the most difficult year for the video game industry in China, with a contraction in revenue.<\/p>
However, China’s video game market returned to growth in 2023, with a 13 percent increase in revenue, despite eSports users growing by only 0.1 percent and profits decreasing by 1.31 percent year-on-year.<\/p>
The number of eSports players reached 488 million this year, in a country with a population of more than 1.4 billion people, according to official figures from Beijing. EFE <\/p>
gbm\/lds<\/p>
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"