China has barred online gamers under the age of 18 from playing on weekdays and limited their play to just three hours most weekends, marking a significant escalation of restrictions on the country's massive gaming industry.


Starting this week, minors will be allowed only an hour of play time between 8 pm and 9 pm on Friday, weekends and public holidays, according to a statement from Chinese media watchdog — the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) — that was posted by state news agency Xinhua on Monday.
The move represents a huge tightening of earlier limits set by the agency in 2019, which had restricted play to 90 minutes on weekdays and three hours on weekends for children. Authorities said that the restrictions were put in place to help prevent young people becoming addicted to video games.
The NPPA noted this week that the rules were being issued "at the beginning of the new [school] semester, putting specific requirements for preventing the addiction to online games, and protecting the healthy growth of minors."
Investors were quick to react. NetEase (NTES) slumped 3.4% during regular trading hours in New York on Monday. Tencent (TCEHY) suffered roughly the same drop in Hong Kong on Tuesday before ticking back up 1.6%.
An escalating crackdown
In recent months, China has embarked on a major clampdown on private enterprise, which has engulfed some of the country's top players. Initially, it appeared that regulators' main target was the booming tech sector, but lately that has expanded to reach other industries, such as private education.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/31/tech/china-ban-video-games-minor-intl-hnk/index.html

Damn... Was this necessary