Games companies are not having a very good time in China at the moment. Earlier this month it was revealed that licenses for releasing new games had not been approved for months, now it seems new game launches could be severely limited in order to save the eyesight of children.
Yes, you did read that right. The Chinese government is using the eyesight of kids as an excuse to implement new restrictions on the sale of new games. More specifically, online games will be restricted both in terms of how many are available to play and how long they are allowed to be played for depending on your age.
As Eurogamer reports, it is Chinese president Xi Jinping who is so concerned about the eyesight of children. So much so that the Ministry of Education is implementing new regulatory measures because video games are seen as a cause of poor eyesight, and in particular, myopia or nearsightedness.
China may have a legitimate case for restricting the time children can play games every day. The risk of myopia is increased by spending too little time outdoors as a child or by focusing your eyes on nearby objects (such as a monitor or phone display) for long periods of time. Even so, that would mean restricting access to all games, not just online ones, right?
It's unclear what the restrictions will be in terms of new game releases and limits on play time. China tracks individuals very well, so detecting a child is playing an online game and starting a timer before it automatically shuts off is probably already possible.
Pushing children to spend more time outdoors playing instead of gaming may see some backlash from parents, though. Air pollution is a major problem in China, and we've recently discovered that's a sure fire way to make your kids less intelligent.
The Chinese government may be ignoring or missing the real cause of what is seen as a myopia epidemic in China (20 percent of primary school students rising to 50 percent in secondary school). In April last year, Post Magazine pointed to pressure on children in China to perform academically leading to them spending most of the time indoors studying rather than outside in the sunshine.