Beijing gaming limit sinks tech stocks

ABOUT $80bn (£63bn) has been wiped off the value of China’s biggest technology stocks after Beijing revealed plans to limit the amount of money people can spend on video games.

Regulators have launched efforts to restrict “in-game” spending, which will curb monetary rewards and enforce caps on the amount of cash that players can add to digital wallets.

Shares in Tencent, the world’s biggest gaming company, sank by 12pc in Hong Kong, wiping more than $43bn from its value. Stock in rival NetEase also fell by 25p, the equivalent of $15bn.

The crackdown is similar to previous child gaming policies when China issued an almost total ban on video game consoles from 2000 to 2015 and in 2018 froze approvals for new games.

The new rules will ban rewards for players who log into games every day, while live streams of “tipping” – where gamers are rewarded by spectating fans – will be blocked, Reuters reported.

Games will also be barred from offering lucky dip-style rewards to children and from allowing them to take part in virtual auctions for gaming items. Since 2021, China has banned children from playing video games for over three hours per week.

Officials have attacked games as a kind of “spiritual opium”, blaming them for a rise in poor eyesight and a lack of concentration.

In November last year, Chinese officials claimed the issue of gaming addiction in children had been “basically resolved” by its draconian crackdown.

However, while China has claimed victory over the gaming sector, children have instead switched to spending more time on Douyin, a domestic version of the video-sharing app TikTok.

Douyin has imposed restrictions that prevent under-14s from spending more than 40 minutes per day on the app.

China’s internet regulator has also pushed for a block on under-18s using the web on their smartphones between 10pm and 6am.

In Europe, shares in Prosus, a Dutch-listed investor in Tencent, dropped by 16pc yesterday.