China Drafts Rules to Tighten Limits on Monetization for Online Games

China is tightening the limits on the monetization of online games with new draft rules that could cut profits of domestic gaming companies, sending shares of Tencent Holdings Ltd. and NetEase Inc., the country’s two largest publishers, tumbling.

Online games must impose limits on how much players can top up their accounts for in-game spending irrespective of their age and issue pop-up alerts for “irrational consumption behaviors,” according to the draft rules published Friday by the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA). Details about the maximum top-up amount were not given.