PlayStation adds clarification about restrictions in China

January 2022 · 2 minute read

PlayStation has come out with clarifications regarding the recent regulations China put on minors’ video game time.

Restrictions will apply for mainland China consoles and users who are under 18 years of age, according to industry insider Daniel Ahmad. PSN accounts with those users will have their playing time reduced to just three hours. PlayStation has added the clarification about the anti-addiction regulation for minors into its Terms of Service for mainland China accounts to comply with the newly implemented restrictions.

PlayStation added clarification about anti-addiction regulation for minors into its ToS for mainland China PSN accounts

Essentially restrictions will apply to PSN users under the age of 18

This is only for mainland China consoles. Imported consoles / non China accounts are fine pic.twitter.com/ELpdeCWzTr

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) September 2, 2021

Earlier this week, China came out with new restrictions for those who are under the age of 18 in regard to their video game playing time. Online game providers can only make their games available to play for one hour on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, in addition to legal holidays.

China's game regulator continues to implement targeted regulations aimed at curbing game addiction among minors

New policy states that minors can only play games for one hour on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between 8pm to 9pm.

An extremely restrictive policy. pic.twitter.com/kkbh9PGsND

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) August 30, 2021

The policy change comes in an effort to stall the growing concern for video game addiction, but it’s also easy to get around. Using an adult’s account is one of the easiest ways to get around it, for example.

China has been getting more strict about the amount of time children can play online games. Previously, Chinese children were regulated to just 90 minutes of online play and they weren’t allowed to play between the hours of 10pm and 8am. The Chinese government does note that this effort is specifically related to online games, which means that offline games are not included in these restrictions.

ncG1vNJzZmicn6mytLzOq6usZpOkunCzxKecq5mcZLumw9Jop6WZqajBosDIqKVmmZSZwG6vy5qpop6ZmK61tc6nZJqan6rBbr7ErKuroZOptrC60magp2WTnbavrQ%3D%3D