Chinese regulators should strengthen the vetting of online games and have “+zero tolerance” toward those that distort history, state broadcaster China National Radio said in a commentary on its Web site on Saturday.
The radio station said that games that distort history could misguide young people and cited one example of a game in which Song Dynasty general Yue Fei (岳飛) was depicted as a capitulator.
“The gaming industry should increase self-discipline, and respect for national history should be the bottom line for the industry’s employees,” the station said.
The remarks — the latest in a series of critical articles in Chinese state media — are likely to exacerbate fears that the video game industry will be next in line to face regulatory action from domestic authorities.
An article by China’s official Xinhua news agency that went viral this month called online games “spiritual opium” and “electronic drugs,” adding that children were becoming addicted and urging greater restrictions.
The article was later retracted, but it sent shares in Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) and other video game companies such as NetEase Inc (網易) and XD Inc (心動) skidding.
Tencent later announced that it would introduce new limits on the time children can spend playing Honor of Kings, its most popular online game, while other operators have also increased mechanisms to prevent online game addiction among adolescents.
A separate article said that tax breaks for the industry should be scrapped.
Chinese regulators have clamped down on a range of industries from property to technology and private tutoring, tearing into regulatory norms to promote socialist values and rein in what state media have called reckless capitalist expansion.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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