A state-level problem. China has banned children from playing video games for more than 16 hours a month

Tech giants Tencent and NetEase are complying with new Chinese government requirements and are introducing limits on children's gaming time. They will be in effect during the month-long winter school break.

It was recently announced that Chinese regulators are once again imposing limits on the time spent playing video games across the country. So during the winter school holidays, which run from January 15 to February 14, children are only allowed to play for one hour a day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Tencent and NetEase, the two largest gaming corporations on the planet, have said they will enforce the restrictions, the South China Morning Post reports. Tencent has agreed to a scheme that will see everyone under the age of 18 limited to 15 hours of gaming between January 13 and February 13. NetEase, the gaming giant behind the hugely popular shooter Marvel Rivals, will allow 16 hours of video games during the same period.

It may seem like kids can easily get around this restriction, or that adults can help them, but it’s not that simple. Tencent said it has stepped up measures to better identify and punish violators. A database of risky accounts has been created, which marks adult accounts that may be borrowed by children. For such accounts, facial recognition verification is required.

Recall that the Chinese authorities have been imposing restrictions on video games since 2021. This is explained by concerns about how much time young people devote to video games. According to the rules, anyone over the age of 18 is free to play as many games as they want.