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Shares of Tencent Holdings and other leading Chinese video game companies fell in Hong Kong trading on Tuesday after a Beijing-affiliated media outlet called their products “spiritual opium”.
The boom, from the state-run media outlet Economic Information Daily, came months later. increased pressure It targeted the broader Chinese internet industry, which serves one billion users from Beijing. This pressure has prompted global investors to pull billions of dollars from Chinese tech stocks for fears that tighter regulation could hurt company prospects.
The article, which appeared in the Economic Information Daily, did not declare any specific policy changes, and it was unclear whether it reflected the views of Beijing officials or simply the editors of the publication.
Adding to the ambiguity, the link to the article died later on Tuesday, but there may be a duplicate. can still be found On the site of Xinhua, the official state news agency that controls the Economic Information Daily.
Despite the uncertainty, nervous investors were quick to sell shares.
Tencent, a tech conglomerate with a large presence in social media and entertainment in addition to video games, saw its shares drop nearly 10 percent at one point, but losses moderated Tuesday and fell nearly 7 percent. NetEase, another mainland video game company, saw its shares drop nearly 9 percent.
The article’s title – “Spiritual opium” has become a hundreds of billion-dollar industry” – left little doubt as to the driving force of the piece. It spoke of a range of threats posed by video games, including diverting attention from school and family and causing nearsightedness.
“No industry or sport should flourish at the cost of destroying a generation,” he said.
The article chose Tencent, which owns popular games in China like Honor of Kings, as well as globally popular games like League of Legends.
Tencent On Tuesday, WeChat published a statement on its social media network explaining some of the limitations it has recently decided to enforce, such as increased efforts to limit playtime for minors and expose those who do. lying about their age play.
The review is not new to Tencent or the industry. More than half of Chinese internet users play online games government statistics. In the past, authorities worried that games could harm children’s academics. damage the eyesight and reduce the country’s military readiness. authorities in 2019. annoyed the amount of time teens can spend playing online games.
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