New Chinese Online Gaming Regulations Send Tencent, NetEase, and Other Gaming Stocks Crashing

[btarunr]

China, earlier today, brought into effect new online gaming and gambling regulations, which aim to curb down the time spent by gamers online, and remove all incentives to play daily, by regulating the way games reward gamers to play daily or often, causing them to spend more time and money online. The announcement sent shockwaves through the financial markets, causing investors to drain about $80 billion in value from two the leading online gaming stocks, Tencent and NetEase. The regulations essentially set spending limits for online games, by spelling out the exact ways in which game studios can monetize their online experiences and play reward systems. Tencent lost about 16% in share price, while that of NetEase crashed by 25%. Prosus, which owns a 26% stake in Tencent, slid by 14.2% in the markets. This is expected to have an effect on Western markets that open for trading in a bit.



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[Vayra86]

China doing something right here. This is how you fight big tech. Kill that profit, guard health and mental safety. Social media next I hope.

Regulation. It just works

 

[_Flare]

This would render about 90% of the monetization workshops of Epic and Unity obsolete.
I like that idea a lot ... European Commision i mean you too.

 

[mechtech]

"which aim to curb down the time spent by gamers online, and remove all incentives to play daily, by regulating the way games reward gamers to play daily or often, causing them to spend more time and money online."

If it's regulations against the corps ok.

If it's a rainy day or -40C and I want to play a game for 3 hours, I wouldn't want to be regulated to 1 hour.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Doesn't impact my gaming. I don't touch those kind of games. In fact, I've been having fun going back through and playing my older games over the dribble that's been coming out as of lately.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Good, well done to China

 

[AnotherReader]

"which aim to curb down the time spent by gamers online, and remove all incentives to play daily, by regulating the way games reward gamers to play daily or often, causing them to spend more time and money online."

If it's regulations against the corps ok.

If it's a rainy day or -40C and I want to play a game for 3 hours, I wouldn't want to be regulated to 1 hour.

It seems to apply only to games with microtransactions.

The regulations essentially set spending limits for online games, by spelling out the exact ways in which game studios can monetize their online experiences and play reward systems

 

[unwind-protect]

The US and EU should really crack down on lootboxes, aka in-game gambling for real-world money. Didn't Belgium outlaw that already?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Next get rid of games like candy crush they're way to violent

 

[RandomWan]

You guys kill me with this "Regulate me harder, Daddy" mentality.

 

[Mysteoa]

Doesn't impact my gaming. I don't touch those kind of games. In fact, I've been having fun going back through and playing my older games over the dribble that's been coming out as of lately.

It may impact you in a way you don't see. Tencent have their hands in many game studios, which may affect future games.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

It may impact you in a way you don't see. Tencent have their hands in many game studios, which may affect future games.

Yeah they won't have as much cash if they can't grab it off players from sales of loot boxes

 

[Vayra86]

You guys kill me with this "Regulate me harder, Daddy" mentality.

More like a long overdue correction.

For example, gambling halls are not accessible under 18 in many countries. For all the right reasons too
The games being regulated are in the same category, but actually worse, because the barrier of entry is zero. Literally. 'Free to play.'

We're just sleepwalking into it. But any in-game store is really more of the same. Monetization within escapism. Its bad. We need it to go away. And while I personally don't care much for regulation, I still think a lot of people need it. Regulation is also guidance for parents, for example. It puts things in the right perspective, the effect is much wider than just regulating said companies.

 

[lemonadesoda]

What next? Performance as a service? Only get CPU/GPU utilisation over 66% for one hour a day, unless you subscribe to premium performance services.

 

[Assimilator]

You guys kill me with this "Regulate me harder, Daddy" mentality.

You libertarians kill me with your "regulation is teh evil" mentality. If you hate being regulated so much, why don't you move to a third-world s**thole where the law isn't enforced? Oh right, it's because you don't actually hate laws, you just hate them when they're applied to you because you're inherently selfish sociopathic snowflakes who think you're so special that you should get a free pass.

I lived in a third-world s**thole where criminals will happily murder you to prevent you from reporting them to the police. I thankfully don't live there anymore, for what are hopefully extremely obvious reasons. I really wish you'd spend some time there, to learn appreciation for the laws of the country that you currently live in.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

What next? Performance as a service? Only get CPU/GPU utilisation over 66% for one hour a day, unless you subscribe to premium performance services.

It's on the market already. Z-motherboards are a thing for over a decade now.

I lived in a third-world country where criminals will happily murder you to prevent you from reporting them to the police. I don't live there anymore, for very good reasons. I really wish you'd spend some time there, to learn appreciation for the laws of the country that you currently live in.

Where I live it's caused by lackluster execution rather than no law. Cops are busy robbing "bath salts" junkies, corps are busy counting money, gov't is busy... doing nothing useful mostly.

"Hello, police?"
"Yes, sir?"
"One suspicious guy is apparently trying to kill me"
"Call me when he actually does so"

It's literally the way they operate. Profit before national safety. And it massively sucks. Penitentiary system is also in a gutter because it only punishes convicted people (a lot of them ain't really criminals, they were just unlucky enough to be in the wrong place in the wrong time) without granting any chance to recover and progress as a civilised human being. Vicious circle in a nutshell.

Yet on paper it's all shiny and almost everything bad is banned and according to the lawsuits, gets appropriate "treatment." Huh. One can only wish.

It's not like Russia is the most dangerous place to find yourself in but it's definitely far from ideal. Settling on "doing X is illegal from now" is not enough. This X has to be, ideally, prevented and not just banned and giving you a jail ticket if you commit that.

China regulating lootbox addiction are doing the right thing in general but they also need to address the reason people fall into such adventures: they feel the need for escapism. They don't like the reality they live in. You can't stop a heroin addict from being a junkie if you just take all the syringes from them. They will still continue despising their life and searching for a fix since it's better dead than sober for them.

 

[the54thvoid]

It's been shown how much money gaming and gambling firms spend on research into addiction and how best to monetize it. It's not so much a thing that affects us older gamers, but the companies definitely use forceful tactics to increase youth enticement.

That being said, the Chinese state intervention is as much about controlling the narrative as it is 'helping' people. That's my opinion, anyway.

 

[kondamin]

That's a lot of developers that were making a living from gamers that will now move in to AI

 

[Minus Infinity]

OMG I find myself supporting Chinese government initiative. Please smash Meta, Google, X next.

 

[Double-Click]

It's been shown how much money gaming and gambling firms spend on research into addiction and how best to monetize it. It's not so much a thing that affects us older gamers, but the companies definitely use forceful tactics to increase youth enticement.

That being said, the Chinese state intervention is as much about controlling the narrative as it is 'helping' people. That's my opinion, anyway.

100%, it's also very easy to change legislation when you're an authoritarian state (for better or worse).
I suppose in this instance we should just say it's a decent idea that could be implemented without the evil plot-twist.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

That's a lot of developers that were making a living from gamers that will now move in to AI

Good!

 

[ValenOne]

OMG I find myself supporting Chinese government initiative. Please smash Meta, Google, X next.

Google, Meta and X are already banned (firewall) in PRC. LOL.

Gambling with loot boxes and real money should be regulated like all any other gambling businesses.

 

[khohada]

Hell yeah, that is how you fight the mega-corp through gov regulation!!!

 

[Eskimonster]

Regulations are good, but it is not black and white like Assimilator says. Seems like a brainfart to me.
The regulations should protect kids, as an adult you should have the full monty.

 

[Vayra86]

Regulations are good, but it is not black and white like Assimilator says. Seems like a brainfart to me.
The regulations should protect kids, as an adult you should have the full monty.

For what exactly? To gain a gambling addiction and be a bad example? Or just 'muh freedom'? Adults lack self restraint much the same. This type of business is like a cancer, preying on the weak.