China’s Regulators Block New Video Games

China is taking more steps to combat video game addiction, blocking new games from being licensed in the country.

China is on a crusade to combat video game addiction in children. The country recently restricted minors to only three hours of gaming per week — an hour a day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as on holidays.

Regulators are now taking an additional step, putting new game approvals on hold “for a while,” according to sources that spoke with the South China Morning Post. The goal is to “cut the number of new games” and “reduce gaming addiction.”

The decision is sure to impact some of China’s most successful companies, including Tencent and NetEase, companies that have made billions from the very type of games China now seeks to curtail.