Gaming Stocks Nuked After China Drops Draft Ban on Login Rewards & Gacha Spending — Players Celebrate: "RIP Bozo"

Sanqi Interactive hit limit-down, multiple gaming stocks plunged over 5% — but the players in the comments were popping champagne.

On December 25, 2023, Chinese financial outlet CaiLian Press reported that the gaming sector continued its freefall at market open. Sanqi Interactive hit its daily limit-down at auction, while Yao Ji Technology, Giant Network, Kingnet, and G-bits all dropped over 5%. The catalyst? A bombshell draft regulation — the "Online Game Management Measures" (网络游戏管理办法) — released by China's National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) just three days earlier on December 22.

The draft's most explosive provisions: online games would be BANNED from offering daily login rewards, first-charge bonuses, and continuous top-up incentives. On top of that, ALL online games must implement mandatory spending caps. In gacha game terms, this is like nuking the entire monetization playbook that Chinese publishers have relied on for years — login streaks, double-first-purchase, monthly card auto-renewals, the whole shebang.

The NPPA responded that the draft aims to "promote healthy and prosperous industry development" and that they would "listen to all parties and further refine it." But the market wasn't buying the PR spin — panic selling hit hard and fast.

Here's where it gets wild: the NGA forum reaction completely defied expectations. Logically, players and investors should share interests — if these companies go under, who's left to make games? But the comment section was an absolute bloodbath of celebration, a collective "RIP Bozo" directed straight at the industry.

One commenter laid it out plainly: "As a player, I hope the NPPA holds firm. This industry is deformed — obscene profits, minimal taxes, it's about time someone cracked down." The comments were absolute gold — "Rest in pieces" said one simply. Another: "Pop the champagne, these companies that do nothing but farm digital peasants can die already." One nailed it with: "The fact that stocks crashed this hard proves everyone knows exactly how mobile games make their money." And perhaps the most poetic take: "The panic exists because people are清醒 (clear-eyed)."

Some players were totally zen about it: "Whether it lives or dies is fate — if China's gaming industry can't even survive THIS, good riddance, I'll just go play Steam." Another went full send: "If Chinese game companies die out, plenty of others worldwide will step in. Suggest turning up the intensity."

Others pointed to deeper context. One commenter noted that ever since the crackdown on private tutoring (教培) devastated an entire sector, every industry is on edge — "one whiff of regulation and the market just folds." Someone even argued gaming taxes are too low and "should be at least 3x tobacco taxes."

But the real mic-drop came from the commenter who said it all in one sentence: "Without predatory monetization, these publishers are dead." That single line cuts to the heart of the entire bubble — when a company's survival depends not on making great games but on extracting maximum spending from players, this draft regulation is lancing exactly the boil the industry doesn't want anyone to see.

The draft is still in the consultation phase and the final version may be softened. But judging by the player reactions, these "digital peasants" (韭菜) aren't just refusing to mourn their harvesters — they're actively hoping regulators confiscate the scythes too. For gaming executives, that public sentiment might sting even worse than the stock charts.