Tencent Weighs Kids Games Ban After ‘Spiritual Opium’ Rebuke

Gaming stocks NetEase and XD also fell in Hong Kong trade
Investors nervous about Beijing’s widening online crackdown

WATCH: Chinese state-run media is branding video games as “spiritual opium.” That comment is stoking fears that online entertainment is Beijing’s next target. (Source: Bloomberg)

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By Zheping Huang

August 3, 2021 at 1:49 AM UTC

Updated on

August 3, 2021 at 1:15 PM UTC

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Tencent Holdings Ltd. led a stocks rout after Chinese state media decried the “spiritual opium” of games, prompting the company to broach a ban for kids and triggering fears Beijing will set its sights next on the world’s largest gaming arena.

China’s most valuable corporation fell as much as 11% after an outlet run by the Xinhua News Agency published a blistering critique of their industry. The Economic Information Daily cited a student as saying some schoolmates played Tencent’s Honor of Kings -- one of its most popular titles -- eight hours a day and called for stricter controls over time spent. The online link to the post was removed hours later without explanation -- then restored to the paper’s website late in the day but with narcotics references stripped out.