After the announcement of new draft regulations on online games, Chinese technology stocks dropped by 80 billion USD in capitalization and eroded investor confidence.
In December 2023, China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) issued the Draft ‘Management Measures game online‘, which proposed banning certain mechanisms used to monetize games.
This raised concerns that Chinese authorities were looking to tighten regulations on video games and put China’s largest companies in the industry (such as Tencent and NetEase) lost about 80 billion USD in capitalization.
NPPA then had to quickly appease public opinion, declaring that the new legal regulations would be adjusted after studying public opinion.
Reuters news agency said that Feng Shixin, Director of the Publication Department of the Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China, who was in charge of the case, was dismissed last week. However, Chinese officials have not yet confirmed this information.
According to the report, Feng Shixin’s dismissal is directly related to the online game management draft announced in December 2023.
Although the regulations have not yet been officially applied, the news sent shares of China’s top video game companies plunging and caused heavy losses to Chinese stock investors.
This incident has caused negative public opinion in the context that the Chinese Government is trying to attract private and foreign investment, promoting a slowing economy.
Feng Shixin has previously represented the Chinese Government at various events and discussed the government’s efforts to regulate the gaming industry, including real-name verification and approval requirements for players. player.
This is not the first time the Chinese government wants to impose strict restrictions on the gaming industry.
In 2021, China introduced strict limits on gaming time for teenagers under 18 years old and suspended the approval of new video games for 8 months due to the problem of gaming addiction.