Korea officially lifted the ban on people under 16 playing games late at night

According to Korea Times, the Korean government’s Youth Protection Law that restricts teenagers and children from playing online games (mainly for PC) from 12 am to 6 am is now determined to be repealed.

Korea officially lifted the ban on people under 16 playing games late at night

This law was originally enacted and took effect in 2011 and has been in force for 10 years now. The main text stipulates that online game companies must prevent the connection of online games to youth under the age of 16 from 12pm to 6am. Violators will be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 2 years and a fine of 10 million Won.

The move to amend the law comes after several groups recently called on the government to remove the law, deeming it inappropriate.

The issue came to the fore in July when Microsoft announced that a version of the game Minecraft, one of the world’s best-selling games, was not intended for Korean children. The community of people who love this game was extremely upset and saw the inadequacy.

Microsoft says players in South Korea need to be at least 19 years old to buy and play the Java version of Minecraft. That means the Korean market is the only place in the world Minecraft is registered as an adult game.

According to the Korea Times, the government said the outdated law did not have any positive effects and did not reflect changes in the gaming environment in the country.

They also say future policies will focus more on giving greater flexibility and control to children and parents rather than imposing unilateral, coercive measures.

The law was introduced to encourage children to get enough sleep and protect their health because game addiction is becoming a social problem in the land of kimchi.

However, the effectiveness of the law has been questioned and criticism has been raised that it violates the free choice of young people, along with objections from game companies.

In addition, children’s internet use is mainly for watching video clips or using social media rather than playing games nowadays.

“Game platforms have become diverse, with many children now playing mobile games that are not subject to the curfew, so the effectiveness of the law has decreased, ” the agency said.

Meanwhile, the Korea Game Industry Association welcomed the repeal of the law, saying it would strangle the nation’s gaming industry for a long time.

7 days to release the new version, Genshin Impact has the same revenue as the previous month

Since its release on September 28, 2020, Genshin Impact has become the 3rd highest grossing mobile game in the world, right behind PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings.

This version when launched brought in $ 150 million in revenue on the App Store and Google Play in just one week. This is more sales than the previous month and is a record that confirms the attraction of this product.

According to a report by Sensor Tower, Genshin Impact’s revenue increased nearly 5 times from September 1 to September 7 compared to the previous week.

During the week, players spent an average of $21.6 million a day in the game. The amount of money miHoYo’s game earned in the past 7 days accounted for 37% of the total revenue.

By market, the US is the region contributing 20% and Japan (19%). To date, MiHoYo’s mobile games have grossed nearly $1.9 billion globally.

In the China region, this game has the fastest growth, about 9.7 times higher than the previous 7 days. Sales in Japan grew 4.4 times sales, while the US saw sales increase 3.5 times.

Until now, the world game market in Asian countries still accounts for a larger proportion, where there is a large community of anime game fans, compared to the West.

Over the previous seven days, from August 25 to 31, the game accumulated about $31 million in global spending on the App Store and Google Play.

It can be said that every time a new version is released, the revenue of this game has a huge breakthrough, bringing huge profits for the game company from Shanghai.

During game development conferences, miHoYo also informs about the roadmap and new content provided after each update. This makes players more and more attached to the product.