After several weeks of nervousness over China’s freeze on video game approvals, developers’ worst fears have been confirmed. China does indeed want to severely regulate the number of video games it approves – albeit for an unlikely reason.
Chinese president Xi Jinping, in remarks reported this week by Chinese news outlet Xinhuanet, said the video game regulation was because he “cares for the children’s eyes” and wants to “let them have a bright future”. At a glimpse, a sensible declaration – clearly, the man is a true visionary.
But this was just the beginning of the war on myopia. Yesterday, the Ministry of Education gave more detail, and announced the Chinese government would implement a number of regulatory measures to combat the health problem. One of these involved restricting the total number of online games, and controlling the amount of new online games allowed into the country. To help protect the childrens’ eyes, it will also review the age-ratings system and adopt measures to limit the amount of time minors can play.
As the document is fairly vague, experts are saying it’s currently unclear just how restrictive the regulations will be. But in the context of the Chinese government’s clampdown on tech companies, and the recent freeze in video game approvals, it seems likely games will be subject to more censorship. Of course, this is definitely all about eyesight. Yep.