China seems to have scrapped planned gacha game regulations after backlash

It looks like Chinese authorities have scrapped plans to further tighten the regulations around video games with in-game purchases and gacha elements, which were originally proposed in December 2023 and immediately caused the share prices of gaming giants like Tencent and NetEase to plunge. Early in January 2024 the government fired the regulator responsible for proposing these rules, publicly signaling to the market that it would think things over. The consultation phase, during which the public had the chance to comment on the proposals, ended on January 22, 2024, and it now appears as if the regulators were told to quietly retract their suggestions. The New York Times reported that the drafted rules have completely vanished from China’s National Press and Publication Administration’s website, which displays an error message instead. The agency did not issue an official notice of the proposals being canned, however, and an employee contacted by NYT could not explain the move either. Clearly, those regulato