A Chinese father is suing Tencent and miHoYo for $1.50 over his son's gaming
A father in Henan is suing Tencent, NetEase, miHoYo, and 37 Interactive for a symbolic 10 yuan, about $1.50. He wants stricter enforcement of China’s minor-play limits after his son, who bypassed them with an adult ID, was hospitalized.
A father in China is suing four of the country’s biggest game companies for the equivalent of $1.50, and he’s clear that the money isn’t the point.
The man, identified only by his surname Qin, filed suit against Tencent, NetEase, miHoYo, and 37 Interactive Entertainment in Tanghe County, Henan province. He’s asking for a symbolic 10 yuan in damages. What he actually wants is a court order forcing the companies to better enforce China’s rules limiting how much minors can play.
The lawsuit follows a frightening incident involving his son, though the connection between the two is not as clear-cut as the framing suggests.
What happened to his son
The facts of the medical emergency are serious, and worth stating carefully.
On May 23, Qin’s son, who had recently turned 18, swallowed 18 fever-reducing pills despite having no fever. Hours later he collapsed and was hospitalized with drug poisoning. He received treatment, recovered, and returned home.
Here’s the important caveat: the son has not told his family why he took the pills. Qin speculates it may relate to guilt or distress connected to heavy gaming, but that’s a father’s inference, not an established cause. The reporting is careful on this point, and so should any account of it be. What’s known is that a young man was hospitalized; why remains unexplained.
The gaming pattern behind the suit
What Qin can document is his son’s play history, and it’s substantial.
After the incident, Qin reviewed his son’s accounts. One reportedly logged 1,868 hours since March 2024, averaging about 2.44 hours a day, with the teen often playing until 3 or 4 a.m. on weekends. Qin says his son had gamed heavily for years.
Crucially, the son allegedly got around China’s strict anti-addiction limits by registering with his adult sister’s ID. That detail is the actual heart of the lawsuit, and it points at a real gap.
The real issue: the rules can be bypassed
China has some of the world’s strictest gaming limits for minors, and this case is about whether they work.
Since 2021, under-18s in China are limited to roughly an hour a day of online gaming, only on certain days, enforced with real-name registration and, in some cases, facial recognition. It’s the most aggressive youth-gaming regime anywhere. But as Qin’s case illustrates, a determined teenager can still slip past it by using an adult’s identification, which is exactly the loophole his suit asks the court to make companies close.
That’s what makes this more than one family’s tragedy. If Qin wins even his symbolic 10 yuan, the precedent could pressure Chinese game companies to tighten how they verify that the adult on an account is actually the one playing, a genuinely hard problem the current system doesn’t fully solve.
The uncomfortable middle
Public reaction has split, and the split is worth acknowledging honestly.
Some sympathize with a frightened father trying to force change after nearly losing his son. Others argue he’s outsourcing parental responsibility to corporations and the courts, noting the account-holder was his own adult daughter and the supervision gap was inside the home. Both reactions have a point, and the case sits in the uncomfortable space between them.
What’s not in dispute: China already regulates youth gaming harder than anywhere on earth, a teenager bypassed it with a family member’s ID, and a father is now asking a court to make that harder to do. Whether games had anything to do with why his son ended up in a hospital bed is something even the son hasn’t answered.
This piece touches on a medical crisis involving a young person; it’s a report on a lawsuit and the policy questions around it.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
D/REZZED is part of Clownfish TV. For more news, views, and rants on gaming, tech, and pop culture, visit clownfishtv.com. Watch the show on YouTube at @ClownfishTV where new episodes drop daily. Subscribe to the Clownfish TV podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and wherever else you get your podcasts. Sign up for the free newsletter at more.clownfishtv.com.
Hat Tips:
South China Morning Post (via Shandian News) (August 2026), verified for Qin’s surname, the four companies sued, the Tanghe County/Henan venue, the 10-yuan symbolic claim, the May 23 incident with 18 fever pills, the drug-poisoning diagnosis, and Qin’s speculation about the cause
Dexerto (August 6, 2026), verified for the ~$1.50 figure, the not-about-money framing, the 1,868 hours since March 2024, the 2.44-hours-a-day average, the 3-4 a.m. weekend sessions, and the son bypassing limits with his adult sister’s ID
The Star (August 2026), verified for the son turning 18 at the start of the year, his unwillingness to explain the medication, and Qin’s guilt-or-dizziness speculation
BBC News (2021, background) (2021), verified for China’s minor-gaming limits, the one-hour-on-certain-days rule, the real-name and facial-recognition enforcement, and the 2021 policy origins