Beijing is acting quickly to ease fears of another regulatory crackdown on China’s video game industry, including firing a prominent official and convening consultations on new measures at short notice, according to people familiar with the matter.
Shares in the leading online gaming companies Tencent and NetEase fell sharply last month after the National Press and Publication Administration proposed guidelines that suggested much tighter controls on the world’s largest gaming market.
The stocks staged a partial recovery at the end of December after the regulator approved the release of 105 games, the most in 17 months, and said it would support “healthy development” of the industry and study responses to its plans.