On December 22, the gaming sector suddenly fell sharply. As of press time, among Hong Kong-listed game companies, Tencent has fallen by more than 12%, and the intraday drop once exceeded 14%. NetEase fell by 25%, and the intraday drop once exceeded 27%. Xindong Company fell 13%, Zenyou Technology fell 19%, Friendship Time fell 11%, and China Mobile Games fell 11%.
Among A-share companies, Baotong Technology, Shengtian Network, Shenzhou Taiyue, Zhangqu Technology, Glacier Network, Fuchun Shares, etc. fell more than 10%. Sanqi Interactive Entertainment, Yaoji Technology, Gigabyte, Dianhun Network, etc. fell by 10%. The online game index (884090) fell 8.59%.
On the news, on December 22, the State Press and Publication Administration issued the "Online Game Management Measures (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Management Measures") to solicit opinions from the public. The deadline for feedback is January 22, 2024.
On July 23, 2019, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China officially issued the "Decision of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on the abolition of the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Games" and the "Measures for the Administration of Tourism Development Planning" (Order No. 2 of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China), deciding to abrogate the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Online Games".
The "Management Measures" released this time aim to strengthen industry standard management and promote high-quality and sustainable development. The "Management Measures" consist of eight chapters and 64 articles, including corresponding provisions on publishing and business unit licensing (Jin Qilin Analyst) access standards, version numbers, game currency transactions, publicity and promotion, protection of minors, etc.
The following are the main contents of the "Management Measures":
1. Licensing standards for online game publishing units
The "Administrative Measures" mentioned that those engaged in online game publishing activities should be approved by the national publishing authority in accordance with the law and obtain an "Online Publishing Service License" that covers the scope of online game publishing business.
There should be the necessary technical equipment needed to engage in online game publishing business, and relevant servers and storage devices must be stored within the territory of the People's Republic of China; in addition to the legal representative and the main person in charge, there should be more than 8 full-time editors and publishers with publishing and related professional and technical qualifications recognized by the national publishing authority, of which no less than 3 should have intermediate or above professional qualifications.
2. Licensing standards for online game business units
Those engaged in online game business activities such as online game operations, online game currency issuance and transaction services must be approved by the provincial publishing department in accordance with the law and obtain an "Online Publishing Service License" that covers the scope of online game business.
And there should be a definite online game business scope; necessary professionals, equipment and management technical measures required to engage in online game business activities, and relevant servers and storage equipment must be stored within the territory of the People's Republic of China.
3. Online game approval system
Before the operation of online game publishing, the unit that has obtained the "Online Publishing Service License" for the online game publishing business scope must submit an application to the local provincial publishing authority. After review and approval, it must be submitted to the national publishing authority for approval.
After obtaining the online game approval document, online game publishing and operating units should organize game publishing and operation within one year from the date of issuance of the approval document in accordance with the requirements of the approval document. If the publication and operation cannot be published beyond the time limit, they should promptly explain the reasons in writing to the local provincial publishing authority.
4. It is prohibited to buy, sell or apply version numbers
No unit or individual may lend, rent, buy or sell, or apply the "Online Publishing Service License", online game approval number, or publication number in any form.
5. Forced battles are prohibited
Online game publishing and business entities are not allowed to set up forced battles in online games.
6. Limit excessive use of games and high consumption
Online games are not allowed to set inductive rewards such as daily login, first-time recharge, continuous recharge, etc. Online game publishing units shall not provide or condone high-priced transactions in virtual props in the form of speculation, auctions, etc.
All online games must set user recharge limits and announce them in their service rules. Pop-up warnings should be issued to users for irrational consumption behavior.
7.Technical test specifications
Before obtaining approval for publication from the national publishing authority, online game operating units that conduct online game technology testing shall ensure that the online game content meets the relevant requirements of these Measures. The number of test users shall not exceed 20,000, and test user data shall be deleted.
8. Game currency issuance specifications
The scope of use of online game currency is limited to the exchange of online game products and services provided by itself, and may not be used to pay, purchase physical goods, or exchange for products and services of other units; the issuance of online game currency must not be for the purpose of maliciously occupying users' prepaid funds, and the standards for issuing and purchasing online game currency must be transparent and reasonable.
Users shall not be provided with services in which online game currency can be exchanged for legal currency. Online game publishing and business entities shall terminate the provision of online game products and services, except in the case of returning unused online game currency to users in the form of legal currency or other methods accepted by the user. Purchase records of online game users shall be saved for a period of no less than 2 years from the date the user receives the service for a single time.
9. Game currency transaction specifications
Transaction services must not be provided for unapproved online games; real-name digital RMB wallets should be used for online game currency transactions, and anonymous digital RMB wallet transaction services must not be provided to users; technical measures should be taken to effectively supervise the transaction process, and transactions with illegal and suspicious behaviors must be reported to relevant departments in a timely manner to avoid facilitating illegal activities such as online gambling and online fraud; information such as transaction records and accounting records between users should be kept for no less than 2 years from the date of a single transaction.
10. Enterprise regulations for game currency issuance and trading
The same enterprise shall not operate online game currency issuance and online game currency trading services at the same time.
11. Specifications for the issuance and trading of virtual props in online games
Online game publishing business units shall not exchange online game virtual props obtained by users into legal currency. If online game virtual props are provided to users in exchange for small amounts of physical objects, the content and value of the physical objects shall comply with the provisions of relevant national laws and regulations.
12. Random selection
When online game publishing business units provide random drawing services, they should make reasonable settings for the number of draws and probabilities, and must not induce excessive consumption by online game users. At the same time, users should be provided with other ways to obtain virtual props and value-added services with the same performance, such as virtual prop exchange and direct purchase using online game currency.
13. Publicity and Promotion Standards
Units that provide publicity and promotion services for online games shall inspect the relevant certification documents of the service recipients, check the advertising content, and shall not publish online game advertisements with inconsistent content or incomplete certification documents. High-value rewards are not allowed in online game live broadcasts. The promotion of online games shall not contain the content listed in Article 16 of these Measures and other content prohibited by laws and regulations.
14. Termination of operations
If an online game publishing business unit terminates the publication or operation of online games, it should make an announcement at least 60 days in advance and go through the cancellation procedures with the local provincial publishing department. The provincial publishing department should report to the national publishing department for record. For online game users’ unused online game coins and unexpired game services, the online game operating unit shall refund the user in legal currency or other methods accepted by the user in proportion to the user’s purchase.
If an online game's services are continuously interrupted for more than 30 days due to the cessation of service access, technical failure or other reasons of the online game operating unit's own reasons, it will be deemed to be terminated.
15. Protection of minors, session length and consumption requirements
Online game publishing and business units should abide by the following provisions in accordance with relevant laws and regulations: strictly control the time and duration for minors to use online games; minors should be prohibited from logging in to games that easily lead to addiction and contain content that is not suitable for minors.
Strictly implement the restrictive requirements for providing paid services to minors, reasonably limit the amount of consumption by minors of different ages when using its services, and shall not provide minors with paid services that are inconsistent with their civil capacity; shall not provide account rental and sales, game currency and virtual props trading services, as well as sparring, proxy playing and other third-party services to minors.
Random drawing services are not allowed to be provided to minors; rewards from minors are not allowed in online game live broadcasts; and the handling of minors’ personal information must comply with relevant laws and regulations.
16. Anti-addiction system
Online game publishing and operating units should establish and improve anti-addiction systems, and shall not provide minors with products and services that induce addiction, promptly modify content, functions or rules that may cause minors to become addicted, provide user-oriented anti-addiction reporting and acceptance services, and announce the anti-addiction work status to the public every year and accept social supervision.
17. Identity verification of minors
Online game publishing and business units should verify the true identity information of minor users through necessary means such as a unified electronic identity authentication system for minors’ online games.
18. Age-appropriate tips
Online game publishing and business units should implement age-appropriate reminder requirements, classify game products based on the physical and mental development characteristics and cognitive abilities of minors at different ages, and evaluate the type, content, and functions of game products and other factors, clarify the age stages of minor users for which game products are suitable, and provide prominent reminders on user download, registration, login interfaces, etc.
19. Responsibilities of all sectors of society
Schools should educate and guide students to use online games in a healthy and reasonable manner based on the physical and mental development characteristics of underage students, strengthen communication and cooperation with parents or other guardians of underage students, and prevent underage students from being addicted to online games. If they find that underage students are addicted to online games, they should promptly inform their parents or other guardians to jointly educate and guide underage students.
Online game publishing and operating units should take practical measures to improve the time management, consumption management and other functions of online games to facilitate guardians and schools in performing relevant duties.
20. Encourage high-quality original games
Encourage the research, development and promotion of online games that are guided by the core socialist values, develop advanced socialist culture, carry forward revolutionary culture, inherit the excellent traditional Chinese culture, promote scientific and technological progress, have innovative value, are beneficial to physical and mental health, and are educational and entertaining.
21. Encourage international cooperation
Encourage online game publishing business units to explore overseas markets, strengthen international cooperation in online games, promote international cultural exchanges, and enhance the international influence of Chinese culture.
22. Penalties for violating network information and personal information security protection
If an online game publishing business unit violates the provisions of Article 31 of these Measures and fails to perform its personal information protection obligations, if the circumstances are serious, the department performing personal information protection responsibilities at or above the provincial level shall order it to make corrections, confiscate illegal gains, and impose a fine of more than 50 million yuan or less than 5% of the previous year's turnover. It may also order the suspension of relevant business or suspend business for rectification, and notify the relevant competent authorities to revoke the relevant business license or revoke the business license.
The directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be fined not less than RMB 100,000 but not more than RMB 1 million, and may be prohibited from serving as directors, supervisors, senior managers and persons in charge of personal information protection of relevant enterprises within a certain period of time.