“China Regulates the Game Industry” to the next wave of regulation of the game industry?Tencent and NetEase share prices plummet | Anue Juheng-Hong Kong Stocks

On Tuesday (3rd) China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency’s Economic Reference News reported that the harm of online games to society has been increasingly recognized by the public, and “mental opium” and “electronic drugs” are often used to represent online games. Excessive indulgence in online games has a dual negative impact on the physiology and psychology of minors.

Affected by bad reports, all Hong Kong stocks’ game concept stocks plummeted. The Hong Kong stock market’s king and China’s largest gaming company Tencent (700-HK) once plunged more than 9%, and NetEase (9999-HK) even collapsed by more than 15%. (2400-HK) plummeted by more than 14%. China Mobile Games (302-HK) and Chuangmeng Tiandi (1199-HK) also followed suit.

Recently, the Central Office of the Communist Party of China and the Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China jointly issued guidelines for students to use electronic products. The content requires that students should be guided to use electronic products reasonably, control the use time, and prevent Internet addiction.

Data shows that 62.5% of minor Internet users in China often play games online; 13.2% of minors play mobile games for more than 2 hours a day on working days. Overinvestment in online games has a dual negative impact on the physiology and psychology of Chinese minors.

In 2020, more than half of China’s children and adolescents are nearsighted, and their studies are affected by their addiction to online games, and the rate of personality alienation is increasing year by year. The negative harm caused by games has been increasingly recognized by society, and “mental opium” and “electronic drugs” have become synonymous with online games.

This new type of “drug” is advancing by leaps and bounds and has become a huge industry in China. In 2020, the actual sales revenue of China’s game market was 278.687 billion yuan, an annual increase of 20.71%. The leader Tencent accounted for half of the industry, and NetEase ranked second.