The State Press and Publication Administration of China released the " Measures for the Administration of Online Games (Draft for Comments) " on the 22nd and opened the public to provide opinions. Although it is currently only in the draft stage, once the announcement was released, it had a significant impact on the gaming industry. The stock prices of Chinese gaming giants Tencent and NetEase fell by more than 12.3% and 24.6% respectively.
Behind this decline is the fact that many provisions in the draft require changes to the operating models of game companies, including business models, tuition strategies, reward mechanisms, and even data management and restrictions on games for minors. .
Limit excessive gaming and reward mechanisms
For example, the draft proposes measures to limit excessive gaming and high spending. Article 18 of the "Administrative Measures" clearly stipulates that online games are not allowed to set up inductive rewards, such as daily login rewards, first-time top-up rewards, and additional rewards for continuous top-up, etc. At the same time, game publishers cannot promote high-priced transactions of virtual items through hype or auctions.
In addition, all online games must set a user deposit limit and clearly disclose it in their terms of service. For irrational consumption behavior, the game should provide pop-up warning reminders .
For a long time, game manufacturers have relied on daily login rewards, first-time recharge discounts, cumulative recharge incentives and other means to maintain user activity and promote consumption. Therefore, these new regulations may have a significant impact on the profitability of game manufacturers.
Game coins and game props can only be used in the game
In terms of the issuance of game currency, Article 23 of the "Administrative Measures" states that games shall not allow users to exchange game currency for legal currency unless the game manufacturer terminates operations and returns unused game currency (Article 36 details Regulation).
At the same time, the use of game currency should be limited to redeeming the products and services of the game, and may not be used to pay or purchase physical items, or exchange for products and services of other units.
In addition, Article 26 also clearly stipulates that game publishers shall not allow game virtual props to be exchanged for legal currency . If users are allowed to exchange virtual props for physical items, the content and value of these items must comply with national laws and regulations.
KYC and real-name wallet required
In addition, Article 22 of the "Administration Measures" requires online games to require users to provide real identity information when signing agreements with users or providing services, and strictly implement user real-name registration and login regulations to ensure that users' identity information is true and valid. .
Similarly, regarding the use of digital RMB wallets, Article 24 stipulates that transactions must be conducted through real-name wallets , and anonymous digital RMB wallet transaction services are strictly prohibited.
The provisions of these "Administrative Measures" will have a significant impact on the development of blockchain games in China. Although the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China stated on the 19th that it attaches great importance to the development of the Web3.0 industry and encourages the exploration of new business models such as NFT, DApp and DID, these new rules may restrict the business model of the traditional game industry and further hinder the development of blockchain games. China's development.
