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China to Restrict On-Line Games?

By Chris Bennett, Tudor Carsten, Michael R. Coburn, Sarah Dale-Harris, Pablo Guzman, Danielle (Dani) Lemon, Chris Metcalfe and David Spratley

Reported statistics about on-line gaming in China are pretty staggering: there are about 40.2 million on-line gamers, and 2007 on-line game sales exceeded $1.46 billion. The flip side is growing concern about on-line addiction, and the growing trend of blaming much of juvenile crime on on-line gaming obsessions.

In fact, Chinese authorities are apparently considering implementing new rules to restrict "undesirable elements" of on-line games. According to one official, on-line games are a kind of "spiritual opium", and the gaming industry will suffer by being increasingly marginalized if steps aren't taken to control things.

We wonder exactly which "undesirable elements" will be the focus of any government restrictions, and will stay tuned for further details.

Coverage at News.com.

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Full post as published by Video Game Law Blog on January 18, 2008 (boomark / email).