How China ground down its gamers — with help from the rest of the world: excerpt from a new book

Societies have fretted about the alleged danger of video games for decades. In “Power Play: Video Games, Politics, and the Battle for Global Influence,” author George E. Osborn recounts how China’s regime cracked down — after some dubious decisions by others paved the way.

China has become the world’s video game superpower. In the space of two decades, the country has transformed from a minor market on the fringes of the entertainment economy to a market of 701.6 million players spending $48.7 billion (all figures U.S.) each year. Tencent, the half-a-trillion-dollar tech giant, is one of the dominant players in the industry, investing in hundreds of businesses such as Epic Games (“Fortnite” and Unreal Engine), Riot Games (“League of Legends”), and the social media app Discord.