China to restrict underage game time to 15 hours during holidays

Chinese underage gamers will have been restricted to a 15-hour game time during the winter holiday. The month-long holiday started on January 15 and will end on February 14 and it seems that China’s heavy regulation on underage gaming still applies to holidays leaving the kids with similar game time as any regular month despite holidays being a time to have fun.

As reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), two of the biggest companies Tencent and NetEase will be following the regulations set by the government. Tencent has provided 15 hours of playtime while NetEase has provided 16 hours.

This isn’t some special rule as the companies are simply following the existing regulations laid back in 2021. Gamers under the age of 18 are not allowed too much game time. As part of the regulation, the children can only play video games for one hour on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Apart from that, one more hour is granted on statutory holidays.

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China using facial recognition to restrict underage gamers

The restrictions on underage gaming are quite solid as the companies are reportedly using facial recognition to prevent children from bypassing these restrictions. “Tencent and NetEase have been using facial recognition for a number of years to detect players and ensure children are not using adult accounts to circumvent limits,” the report said.

Despite that, many of them manage to bypass these restrictions in one way or another. The report states that out of 200 million gamers under the age of 18, more than 50 million play video games more than the allotted time limit throughout the year.

While the country puts on a massive regulation of kids playing video games, China remains one of the most active countries in terms of gaming. Last year’s Black Myth Wukong and Marvel Rivals were one of the biggest releases globally.