Wild Rift, COD Mobile, and Peackeeper Elite Esports Leagues Postponed in China Due to New Regulations on Gaming

Several esports events have been postponed due to China’s recently implemented restriction for minor gamers. The new regulation states that children under the age of 18 are only allowed to play video games for three hours per week. This prompted the major esports events in China such as the League of Legends: Wild Rift Professional League (LPL) Qualifier, Call of Duty (COD): Mobile Masters China, and Peacekeeper Elite League (PEL) Season 3 to postpone their esports events and adjust their schedules. In separate posts from the Chinese blogging website Weibo, each league stated that these changes are made to comply with the country’s regulations.

Wild Rift LPL Qualifier New Schedule

The recently announced LPL Qualifier for Wild Rift will feature 17 top-tier teams from the LPL division in the country, competing in the mobile MOBA counterpart. The event was originally scheduled to kick off on 6th September but was eventually moved to 11th Sept 2021, according to the official Weibo post.

COD Mobile Masters China Season 2 New Schedule

One of the major esports events that were affected by the new regulation in China is the COD Mobile Master China. The tournament features 14 Chinese teams competing for the lion’s share of the 3 million Chinese Yuan ($464,000 USD).

The event is currently on its regular season’s 6th week but fans will have to wait a bit longer before it returns. According to the official blog post on Weibo, the tournament will be pushed back for one week.

Here are the new schedules for the 6th and 7th week of the esports event;

• Week Six: 9th - 12th Sept 2021

• Week Seven: 16th - 19th Sept 2021

Peacekeeper Elite League Season 3 New Schedule

The third week of the PEL Season 3 has been postponed for one week, as revealed in the official blog post on Weibo. The event was originally scheduled to continue on 2nd to 5th September but has been postponed to 9th to 12th Sept 2021.

The PEL Season 3 is the official league of the Chinese mobile Battle Royale counterpart of PUBG Mobile, Peacekeeper Elite. The crowned champions of the said event will represent China in the upcoming PUBG Mobile Global Championships (PMGC) 2021

China has been implementing very strict regulations which limit the amount of time that underaged individuals can spend playing video games. The old policy stated that children are allowed to play 1.5 hours per day. However, with the recent regulations imposed, children are only allowed one hour of gameplay on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Special Holidays.

It will be interesting to see how the esports leagues will be able to adjust to the newly implemented rule in China, considering that some of the teams involved may have underaged pro players in its roster.