HONG KONG, Jan 2 (Reuters) - China removed an official at a government body overseeing its press and publications regulator, five sources who were briefed on the matter said, days after Chinese gaming stocks were hit by proposed rules to curb spending on video games.

Feng Shixin was removed last week from his position as head of the publishing unit of the Communist Party’s Publicity Department, the sources said. The department oversees the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) which in turn regulates China’s vast video games sector.

China’s State Council Information Office, which handles media queries on behalf of the Chinese government, including on personnel matters, did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Reuters was unable to obtain Feng’s contact details to reach him for comment.

The five sources said Feng’s removal was linked to rules the NPPA announced last month that sent stocks in the world’s largest video games sector, including industry giant Tencent (0700.HK), plunging.

  • cyd@lemmy.worldEnglish
    361·
    6 months ago

    The one time the CCP backs away from clamping down on the private sector, it’s over video game microtransactions and gacha. Go figure.

    • Arcane_Trixster@lemm.eeEnglish
      241·
      6 months ago

      It’s not a private sector over there, the government owns part of Tencent (or something similar, don’t quote me).

      I was surprised to hear of their ban in the first place, given how big MTX are in China.

    • CTDummy@lemm.eeEnglish
      12·
      6 months ago

      Literally, $80 billion dollars, that’s how much Chinese gaming companies lost in stock value when it was announced. Given Xi is trying to stoke confidence in the economy I can bet he was pissed this was done now of all times. Kids gambling is a valuable market unfortunately.

      • ono@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        Seems like someone with foreknowledge of the reversal could have made some money there, doesn’t it?

    • LwL@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      I can agree with the consecutive spending one, that seems like something that shouldn’t be allowed, but log in bonuses? Sure it’s an obvious way of getting people to keep playing your game by at least getting them to log in, but it’s functionally no different from daily quests in that regard. Wow, now your log in bonus is instead a daily quest to do something extremely trivial that takes 10 seconds. And if lawmakers start wanting to forbid the concept of daily quests then I would like them to get the fuck away from my hobby.

      First time spending bonuses kinda w/e, it is a pretty manipulative thing but it’s so easy to work around too, just put in a one time purchasable thing that gives better value.

      Makes sense though since the article said it’s more about the scare of more such regulation coming than necessarily the specific proposal.

      • Donjuanme@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        6 months ago

        Why should your hobby benefit from you checking in on it every day, unless it’s something living? That sounds less like a hobby and more like a task. I think daily’s are a huge symptom of commodified gaming, I stopped playing world of Warcraft when they introduced repeatable daily quests.