China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd said on Tuesday it would additionally check minors’ admittance to its leader computer game, hours after its offers were battered by a state media article that depicted internet games as “otherworldly opium”.
Economic Information Daily cited Tencent’s “Honor of Kings” in an article in which it said minors were addicted to online games and called for more curbs on the industry. The outlet is affiliated with China’s biggest state-run news agency, Xinhua.
“They don’t believe anything is off limit and will react, sometimes overreact, to anything on state media that fits the tech crackdown narrative,” Ether Yin, partner at Trivium, a Beijing-based consultancy.
Tencent stocks tanked the most in a decade.
China’s biggest web-based media and computer game firm saw its stock tumble over 10% in early exchange, cleaning nearly $60 billion from its market capitalization. The stock was on target to fall the most in 10 years prior to managing misfortunes after the article disappeared from the power source’s site and WeChat account.
In the article, the paper singled out “Honor of Kings” as the most mainstream internet game among understudies who, it said, played for as long as eight hours every day.
“‘Spiritual opium’ has grown into an industry worth hundreds of billions, no industry, no sport, can be allowed to develop in a way that will destroy a generation.”
The news paper said.
Opium turned into a delicate subject in China after it surrendered Hong Kong island to Britain “in ceaselessness” in 1842 toward the finish of the First Opium War, battled about the fare of the medication to China where fixation became broad.
The organization didn’t address the article in its assertion, nor did it react to a Reuter’s demand for input.
The article likewise hit the industry and competitive stocks tanked as well. Net Ease Inc dropped over 15% prior to paring misfortunes to lounge around 8% lower in late evening exchange. Game engineer XD Inc fell 8.2% and mobile gaming organization GMGE Technology Group Ltd dropped 15.6%.
