On December 12, 2024, at the China Game Industry Annual Conference, Tang Jiajun, deputy secretary-general of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, secretary-general of the Game Working Committee, and chairman of the E-sports Working Committee, officially released the “2024 China Game Industry Minors Protection Report” jointly compiled by the Game Working Committee of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association and Gamma Data (CNG).
The report mainly focuses on aspects such as the current situation of minors’ network protection, analysis of minors’ gaming status, participation of minors’ parents, challenges and suggestions for minors’ protection. It comprehensively reflects the effectiveness of minors’ protection in China’s game industry in 2024 through multi-dimensional data, aiming to objectively present the actual situation of China’s game industry in minors’ protection work and provide references for further improving relevant strategies.
The report research shows that the number of minor netizens under 18 years old in China has reached 196 million, and the internet penetration rate among minors has reached 97.3%. Minors who play games for less than 3 hours per week increased by 37.2 percentage points to 75.1%. More than 80% of minor game users have no consumption or an average monthly consumption of less than 30 yuan. More than 90% of parents know at least one way to protect minors in games.
The search volume of keywords such as “anti-addiction” has dropped by more than 90% compared to the first month. This article only uses part of the data from the “2024 China Game Industry Minors Protection Report”. To obtain the report, please follow the official WeChat public account of Gamma Data, “Game Industry Report”, and scan the QR code below to add the enterprise WeChat. Current situation of minors’ network protection.
The number of minor netizens has reached 196 million people. The situation of minors accessing the internet at a younger age is obvious. The report jointly released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League at the minors’ network protection forum of the 2024 World Internet Conference shows that the number of minor netizens in China continues to expand.
As of December 2023, the number of minor netizens under 18 years old in China has reached 196 million, and the internet penetration rate among minors has reached 97.3%. Data source: The 6th Survey Report on Internet Use by Minors in China. In Gamma Data’s questionnaire survey targeting minor groups, the proportion of interviewed students who first accessed the internet before junior high school is close to 90%.
Among them, the proportion of preschool children accessing the internet is about one-fourth, and minors accessing the internet at a younger age is significant. Data source: Gamma Data (CNG). Minors have rich network behaviors. Entertainment and learning purposes account for the highest proportion. The survey results show that more than 97% of minors often use the internet. 79.3% mainly use the internet for entertainment activities such as listening to music, watching videos, playing games, and reading novels.
75.
5% of minors primarily use the internet for searching for questions, memorizing words, reading materials, and acquiring knowledge, playing a significant role in their learning and relaxation. Data source: CNG.
According to CNG, when looking at the weight of online entertainment choices among minors, watching videos, listening to music, and playing games rank in the top three.
The majority of minors’ daily entertainment is controllable, with over 70% of minors playing games for less than 3 hours per week. Research results show that about 50% of surveyed students spend an average of less than 1 hour per day on online entertainment during school days (excluding rest days), but nearly 30% of minors spend more than 2 hours per day on online entertainment during school days, with 5% spending over 5 hours, highlighting the need for attention to excessive internet leisure and entertainment among minors. Data source: CNG.
In recent years, measures to prevent minors from becoming addicted to online games have achieved certain results. In 2024, the proportion of minors playing games for more than 3 hours per week was 24.9%, a decrease of 37.2% compared to 2021. Data source: CNG.
The public opinion attention and discussion on several game-related keywords for the protection of minors have significantly decreased. Baidu Index shows that since the new regulations were released on August 30, 2021, the search volume for keywords such as ‘anti-addiction’, ‘minor game time restrictions’, and ‘minor refunds’ has generally shown a downward trend. In November 2024, the average compared to the first month decreased by 94%, 97%, and 50%, respectively, indicating that related issues have been effectively managed and resolved. Data source: CNG.
Analysis of minors’ gaming conditions shows that about 90% of minor game users do not spend or spend less than once a month on average. In terms of consumption frequency, 59.04% of minor game users have not made any in-game purchases in the past year, and another 28.77% have a very low ‘pay-to-win’ frequency, less than once a month on average. Data source: CNG.
The proportion of minor game users who recharge more than 100 yuan per month is less than 10%. From the consumption range, 82.55% of minor game users almost never pay or recharge an average of less than 30 yuan per month, and those who recharge 100 yuan or more per month account for less than 10%. Overall, the impact of minors’ consumption on the gaming industry is relatively small, but the extreme cases of large consumption by some minors have a significant negative impact and still need to be properly addressed. Data source: CNG.
More than three-quarters of minor game users comply with anti-addiction regulations. In terms of the effectiveness of anti-addiction, 49.83% of minor game users play games for no more than 3 hours per week, and another 25%.
26% of minors terminate gaming upon encountering anti-addiction prompts. In total, 75.09% of minor game users abide by anti-addiction agreements. Source: Gamma Data (CNG).
Some parents are aware of their children’s actions such as cracking or bypassing game anti-addiction restrictions. According to parent questionnaire results, 33.64% of surveyed parents help their children register game accounts with their own ID cards. Parents who know that their children ask adult friends for help in registration, or that children steal family equipment accounts or identity information for registration account for more than 10%. Source: Gamma Data (CNG).
Parental Involvement for Minors
Over 80% of parents allow their children to play games. Most parents understand their children’s game needs. In terms of their attitude towards minor children playing games, only a small portion of parents (19.26%) completely disallow their children to play games. Most parents (59.07%) think that children can play games as long as they are not addicted. 16.67% said that they will appropriately play games with their children. Only about 1% completely ignore whether their children play games. This shows that the vast majority of parents still tend to manage their children’s game time through reasonable guidance and participation. Source: Gamma Data (CNG).
Questionnaire results show that parents allow their children to play games for various reasons. Among them, ‘stress relief’ and ‘boredom’ account for the highest proportion, indicating that most parents recognize that games are a way for children to relax and unwind. About 40% of parents attribute their children’s gaming reasons to ‘external influences’ and’social needs’. Some parents also pay attention to the deeper reasons at the emotional and other levels. Source: Gamma Data (CNG).
Parents Generally Control Minors’ Gaming
Some parents set game entertainment as an incentive condition. According to student questionnaire results, parents generally control the gaming behavior of minor children, but only 11.95% will forcibly stop them. Most parents will take rational measures. When setting game restrictions for children, 48.83% of parents will limit game time, 39.65% of parents will set tasks (such as playing only after finishing homework), and 15.16% of parents will set conditional restrictions and use test rankings or achieving certain grades as incentives for children to play games. Source: Gamma Data (CNG).
Over 90% of Parents Know at Least One Way to Protect Minors in Games
According to parent questionnaire results, over 90% of parents have at least heard of one relevant way to restrict minors’ gaming. Restricting registration, limiting playtime, and restricting recharges are relatively familiar game control methods for parents, and their popularity levels are all higher than 55%. However, it is worth noting that from a single measure perspective, about 40% still haven’t heard of restricting minor game registration and game playtime.
This indicates that there is still a need to strengthen systematic publicity and education to help parents correctly intervene in their children’s gaming behavior.
Data Source: CNG (Gamma Data) Approximately 90% of parents believe there are multiple difficulties in controlling their children’s gaming. According to the parent survey results, except for a minority of parents who believe that their children’s gaming behavior “does not need control” and “has no difficulties,” about 90% of the interviewed parents expressed that they generally face some difficulties when controlling their children’s gaming.
Currently, the minor protection system in the gaming industry can effectively help parents limit their children’s gaming behavior through various anti-addiction measures, but at the same time, parents also need to strengthen the management of their own information to further enhance the control effect.
Data Source: CNG (Gamma Data) Most parents believe that they and their children are the main responsible parties. Regarding the responsibility for the control of minors’ gaming, 80.13% of parents think it’s the parents, 61.43% believe it’s the children themselves, and the proportion of game developers, game promotion platforms, game download channels, and other related participants in the gaming industry is also high.
In addition, parents believe that relevant departments, schools, internet cafes, and gaming arcades, as well as manufacturers of mobile phones and computers, also have control responsibilities. Minor protection is a comprehensive project that requires the joint efforts of multiple parties to optimize the relevant links in deployment and strengthen collaboration between families, schools, governments, enterprises, and society, in order to further enhance the effectiveness of anti-gaming addiction work and help parents better guide and manage their children’s gaming behavior.
Data Source: CNG (Gamma Data) Analysis of Key Cases in Minor Protection Enterprises in the Gaming Industry. The list of minor protection enterprise cases and the selection method require the joint participation of the entire industry. Over the three years since the implementation of new regulations, Chinese gaming companies, based on their own strength, have actively explored and practiced effective measures for minor protection.
This report comprehensively considers various factors such as company size, user base, product type, and minor protection measures, and selects ten gaming companies of different sizes as cases. The aim is to provide experience and reference paths for the subsequent work in the gaming industry by conducting a comprehensive review and in-depth analysis of their minor protection work in 2024. Note: The order of arrangement is not prioritized.
Tencent Games explores more possibilities in protecting the growth of minors on top of strict technical management of the “hard defense line”. Since 2017, Tencent Games has taken the lead in the industry to build a comprehensive health protection system covering the “pre-event, during-event, and post-event” process of minors’ gaming, using technical capabilities to strengthen the “hard defense line” of minor protection, taking the initiative to adopt stricter identity verification methods such as “facial recognition”, and continuously introducing new measures to enhance the anti-addiction effect.
In 2024, Tencent Games has completely upgraded the ‘anti-addiction four-piece set’ management tool. It has firstly launched protective measures such as ‘summer face patrol’, ‘anti-face recognition bypass inspection’, and face recognition ‘bomb lock’, specifically addressing issues such as account misappropriation and lending. In terms of consumption restrictions, Tencent Games has taken the initiative to further prohibit recharges by minors under 12 years old, becoming the only leading manufacturer in the industry that is stricter than the requirements of the competent authorities regarding the prohibition of recharges for those under 8 years old.
Additionally, Tencent Games continues to increase its governance efforts on black and gray industries related information such as account rentals and sales within games and communities. It imposes penalties such as silencing, short-term bans or permanent closures on accounts that post such information, and sets up an ‘entry for real-name reporting of black industries’ for precise strikes. On the other hand, Tencent Games is constantly exploring more possibilities for protecting the growth of minors.
Tencent Growth Guardian has launched special courses, communication communities, and diverse public welfare programs for parents, and initiated the ‘family communication plan’, etc., aiming to strengthen the important role of families in protecting minors. At the same time, through implementing the ‘Double Hundreds of Intelligence and Physical Fitness’ plan and the guardianship exploration of gamified learning and gamified sports, Tencent Games continuously implements more constructive solutions to create a good environment for the healthy growth of minors.
NetEase Games, leveraging its technological advantages, has strengthened the guardianship barrier for minors. It has comprehensively upgraded its measures to jointly build a good online and offline environment. As a leading game manufacturer, NetEase actively undertakes the main responsibilities of enterprises. On the basis of strictly implementing various national requirements related to anti-addiction, it continuously promotes the protection of minors with leading technologies and innovative measures.
In terms of the construction of long-term mechanisms, NetEase Games, relying on years of research and operation experience and technological accumulation, has firstly launched AI minor protection patrol technology. By increasing the intensity of face verification, enhancing risk intervention measures, and improving the family-enterprise-coordinated management platform and other means, it has further strengthened the protection network inside and outside the game.
In 2024, all products of NetEase Games took the lead in adding a ‘minor mode’, and the protection of minors has entered a new stage. In addition, NetEase Games has carried out special actions during winter and summer vacations for several consecutive years. This not only effectively improves the level of anti-addiction and social security protection for minors during vacations but also has achieved remarkable results in combating black and gray industries in games and fraud inside and outside the domain.
On the other hand, NetEase Games actively participates in government-enterprise cooperation and industry co-construction to jointly create a healthy and good network environment. Through public welfare donations, policy publicity, and legal education, it provides practical and effective support for the healthy growth of teenagers. Particularly worthy of attention and reference is that NetEase fully utilizes the appeal of games to influence social reality.
For example, it launches anti-fraud maps in the game ‘Eggy Party’ and links up with offline popular science activities. It also initiates ‘public welfare theme maps’, attracting 500 million players to participate and contributing 1 million public welfare funds to the ‘Companion Moms – Left-behind Children Public Welfare Project’.
Furthermore, by selling digital cultural products, the love of players is transformed into tangible support for the ‘Free Lunch’ project of the China Social Welfare Foundation.
MiHoYo insists on leveraging the multifaceted value of games to empower social reality in the field of minor online protection. MiHoYo continuously implements comprehensive measures for the protection of minors both within and outside of games, mainly through the construction of anti-addiction systems, the protection of minors’ information security, and the innovation of platform governance, to create a safe, healthy, and uplifting online environment.
At the same time, MiHoYo is always committed to harnessing the positive connectivity of games, exploring modern expressions of intangible cultural heritage and interesting popular science under the game’s worldview, promoting the realization of the game’s multifaceted value in social reality through the ‘gaming plus’ model. On the other hand, MiHoYo uses the influence of games to encourage young players to actively participate in social welfare, and provides substantive help to minors in need through organizing activities, cooperative projects, and donating funds.
ShengQu Games comprehensively creates a green and healthy online space to escort the growth of minors in multiple dimensions. As one of the earliest companies to initiate and implement anti-addiction measures in online games, ShengQu Games has always strictly implemented requirements for the protection of minors online, with significant results in rule-making, system construction, and measure upgrades.
In 2024, the proportion of registered users under 18 on ShengQu Games’ self-operated platform was as low as 0.0559%, and the proportion of underage recharges was only 0.0027%, with both figures decreasing by 50% year-on-year. At the same time, ShengQu Games combines artificial and technical means to actively respond to the ‘Qinglang’ special action, vigorously combat the black and gray industries, and jointly carry out ‘protecting seedlings’ work, to create a safe, green, and healthy online space for minors.
In addition, ShengQu Games also focuses on developing a ‘health reminder mechanism’ and promotes the strengthening of youth network literacy education, actively exploring the development of corporate and social welfare, to escort the growth of minors in multiple dimensions.
KaiYing Network continues to consolidate the results of minor protection by creating multifaceted value through product IPs and public welfare brands. Since 2021, KaiYing Network’s self-operated games have completely banned the registration of minors and has taken a series of measures to strengthen control, including restrictions on game duration and recharge, as well as regular content reviews. In 2024, KaiYing Network further improved the background monitoring and manual patrol mechanisms to prevent minors from using adult accounts to play games and recharge, ensuring that the game data of minors remains at a very low level.
On the other hand, KaiYing Network relies on its own technical and industry advantages, and actively participates in the field of rural revitalization and education through its corporate public welfare brand ‘KaiXin Public Welfare’, contributing to the literacy education of children in remote ethnic minority areas.
Kaiying Network is committed to telling Chinese stories through original self-developed IPs, focusing on the core of traditional culture for the development of content across the entire industry chain. The animation ‘Baigong Ling’ launched in 2024 is a representative example of injecting new vitality into intangible cultural heritage through animation and gamification. Kaiying Network deeply integrates product IPs with public welfare brands, launching the ‘Kaixin Baigong Ling – Intangible Cultural Heritage Top Player Program’ public welfare project. While focusing on improving aesthetic education for adolescents, it also empowers the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage and talent training, and promotes and achieves effective protection of local culture.
Zhongyou Mobile’s anti-addiction requirements cover all aspects, achieving new lows in data. ‘Dream Building Library’ cares for the growth of adolescents. Since the implementation of new regulations in 2021, Zhongyou Mobile has strictly followed the official requirements of the press and publication department to restrict minors from becoming addicted to games. In the first year, the proportion of consumption by minors decreased by nearly 90%, and the relevant data has always remained at a low level.
Currently, all games under Zhongyou Mobile have achieved full coverage of real-name authentication, anti-addiction systems, and age-appropriate reminders, with some products’ restriction standards further enhanced above the official requirements. In the first half of 2024, the contribution rate of minors to the game revenue of Zhongyou Mobile was less than 0.01%. On the other hand, Zhongyou Mobile actively participates in public welfare, with the ‘Zhongyou Mobile Dream Building Volunteers’ team, composed of employees’ voluntary participation, approaching 100 people.
In August 2024, Zhongyou Mobile carried out a donation and education assistance activity in Longkai Village, Jiafang Township, Mashan County, Guangxi, which is a paired assistance project between Guangdong and Guangxi. They provided 26 economically disadvantaged students with a love education fund of 22,200 yuan. Subsequently, Zhongyou Mobile volunteers went to the Shenzhen Feichang Classroom Special Children Care Center to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with the children and convey social care.
At the same time, Zhongyou Mobile continues to invest resources in the long-term public welfare project ‘Zhongyou Mobile Dream Building Library’. As of November 2024, 13 ‘Dream Building Libraries’ have been built in various places, selecting books based on in-depth research on the recipients, and through material donations, course interactions, teacher training, and follow-up visits, they truly practice the public welfare cultural concept of caring for the growth of adolescents.
Yingjiao Network’s products have upgraded the protection of minors in the entire process of online protection, continuously practicing social responsibility and caring for the group of minors. Yingjiao Network continues to deepen and improve the mechanism for preventing minors from becoming addicted to games and the parent supervision project. Its game products such as ‘Arknights’ and ‘From the Stars’ have all implemented a full-process control system of ‘prevention before the event – monitoring during the event – handling after the event’.
They continue to rely on technological upgrades to strengthen security protection, effectively reducing the possibility of the system being violently cracked or bypassed. The official community Senkong Island APP, which was launched in September 2023, is equipped with a platform youth mode, with core functions such as mandatory guidance, pure viewing, and content governance, creating a safe and healthy online environment for minors.
In the realm of content management, Shengtian Network continuously refines its self-developed information security review platform and collaborates closely with third-party security service providers. They also intensify manual patrols to create a healthy and positive online environment for minors.
In terms of home and enterprise co-management, Shengtian Network not only assists in supervision through the ‘Youth Mode’ but also designs a comprehensive behavior certification and commitment mechanism, allowing parents and children to jointly understand related responsibilities.
Furthermore, to better understand and assist the youth, Shengtian Network has partnered with the Social Security Research Center of Wuhan University and the China Institute for Child Development and Security since 2019 to conduct research on urban and rural children, including those left behind. They also carry out public welfare activities through the brand ‘Glimmering Light, Gathering Love’ and establish a special public welfare fund. Subsidiary Tianxi Entertainment has been participating in charity donations for several years, deepening their care and support for the youth, contributing to the cause of minor protection.
Qingci Games continuously improves anti-addiction and other minor protection measures, relying on game collaborations to convey positive values. Qingci Games strictly adheres to regulations, limiting the gaming duration and charging behavior of minors. All their game products maintain a unified anti-addiction logic for minors through SDKs and actively take targeted measures against the dark and gray industries affecting the protection of minors in games.
At the same time, Qingci Games is committed to leveraging the role of games as cultural products, absorbing the artistic essence from historical culture, and subtly imparting related knowledge to minors through series content packaging and extensive collaborations, achieving the goal of entertainment with education.
In terms of public welfare, Qingci Games bases on the ‘Strongest Snail’ collaboration to advance key areas such as Snail Livelihood, Snail Farmland, and Snail School Village. They also participate in foundation projects to provide assistance to left-behind children, children with special difficulties, and girls in underdeveloped areas.
Suggestions for the game industry’s minor protection include conducting minor protection classes and multi-party cooperation to guide parents. Survey results from parents show that the majority wish to understand knowledge related to minors’ gaming and entertainment, especially how to effectively guide children (74.26%), how to reasonably control children’s gaming (67.1%), and children’s gaming psychology (65.
9%). This indicates that parents are not only concerned about their children’s gaming behavior but also hope to understand the psychological motives behind it and how to scientifically intervene and guide. Relevant departments, institutions, and experts should conduct minor protection classes and other targeted methods to help parents master effective control methods and guidance strategies.
In the future, Gamma Data will also carry out layout around relevant aspects, continuously promote grass-roots publicity and education, enhance the local influence of anti-addiction policies, and promote effective communication among game enterprises, schools, families and minors, jointly maintain a healthy growth environment for minors, and continuously provide empirical research data for policy effect evaluation. Source: Gamma Data (CNG).
The questionnaire results of strengthening game content supervision and enhancing the quality education of minors show that although most interviewed minor players can abide by the game rules, there are still some who will exhibit inappropriate behaviors in the game for various reasons. Therefore, the necessity of strengthening the supervision of game content and environment is self-evident. At the same time, it should also be realized that games are also a good platform to help students establish correct values and behavioral norms. Source: Gamma Data (CNG).
The parent questionnaire results show that only 3.1% of parents do not limit their children’s game content, indicating that the vast majority of parents generally recognize the impact of games on their children’s growth and tend to provide certain guidance and management for their children’s game choices. Based on this, home-school cooperation and industry co-construction should be strengthened, games beneficial to the growth of minors should be screened and recommended, and the positive functions and values of games should be exerted. At the same time, games can also be used as a carrier to enhance the educational effect of minors. Source: Gamma Data (CNG).
On the whole, minors have a wide range of hobbies. Without considering other conditions, games are not the first choice of all minors, indicating that games are only a common entertainment choice under the influence of various realistic factors. The key to solving the problem of minors’ addiction to online entertainment should not be limited to restricting game behavior. Through the joint support, educational guidance and awareness enhancement of families and schools, as well as the joint efforts of the game industry, minors can be guided to develop more hobbies outside online games, thereby promoting their healthy growth and all-round development. Source: Gamma Data (CNG).
In the student questionnaire survey, still 24.96% of the interviewed minors said that ‘the games they play do not require accounts or real-name authentication’. In addition to some games that do not need to be connected to the Internet, Gamma Data found that the gray area of some ‘play immediately upon opening’ games on the web page still needs attention. At the same time, some interviewed minor users will buy or rent accounts online. Relevant black and gray industries have been focused on and cracked down by the game industry and relevant departments and have achieved remarkable results. However, more covert ways of renting and selling accounts emerge in an endless stream, and further attention is needed in the future.
Data source: Gamma Data (CNG).
