Is China Banning Genshin Impact?

China has introduced new rules for under 18 age gamers to limit the amount of time children and teenagers can spend on video games each week. However, it has led to several people wondering if China is banning Genshin Impact on any such other games.

Games like Genshin Impact have gained a lot of traction among young gamers not only from China but other countries as well. So there is a concern whether such games would be banned.

So in this article, we shall discuss whether Genshin Impact or any other games will be banned or what kind of impact will new the rules have on the popularity and revenue of the game.

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China Puts 3-Hour Weekly Limit On Young Gamers

According to the new rules in China, gamers under 18 years of age can play games three hours a week. So from now onwards, the youth in China will be allowed to play games only between 8 PM and 9 PM on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.

These restrictions are applicable to all devices including phones which is a major blow to the gaming industry that sources its revenue from millions of young players in the world’s most lucrative market for gaming.

The authorities see this as a necessary move to combat gaming addiction. However, this new rule places the responsibility of implementation on the gaming industry.

Now gaming companies cannot provide services to minors outside the fixed timings and they also need to put a real-name verification system in place to enforce the same.

The Repercussions

This isn’t the first time when China enforced a regulatory crackdown on gaming companies. Previously, the time limit for under-18 gamers was up to 1.5 hours on any day and three hours on holidays.

According to a report, there are over 720 million gamers in China, out of which roughly 110 million of them are under the age of 18. It is hard to calculate the exact number of young Chinese gamers who may be addicted to gaming.

But around 13.2% of minors in China play games for over two hours a day on weekdays, which translates into tens of millions of children. Besides, the average gaming hours for Chinese gamers are much higher compared to other countries. So this crackdown is going to cost dearly to gaming companies.

Will Genshin Impact Get Banned In China?

The new rules in China have raised concerns among gamers who fear that games like Honor of Kings or Genshin Impact may get banned. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case so far.

The authorities are more focused on reducing the number of gaming hours instead of targeting particular games. So we don’t need to worry about Genshin Impact getting banned for now.

However, China has a long history of banning games that it doesn’t approve of. In case the new rules don’t help in curbing gaming addiction, one can expect a more stringent approach towards specific titles.

But it is to be noted that so far China has banned video games in the past citing reasons like blood, gore, vulgar content, or anti-government content. And Genshin Impact doesn’t seem to be overstepping on any of these avenues. So we can assume that Genshin Impact is not getting banned in China, at least in the near future. However, one cannot say what approach the authorities may take later on if the problem of gaming addiction persists in the country.

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