All game companies operating in China, software and hardware, have to go through the CCP. They could definitely force companies to add software timers that automatically shut games down when a time limit is reached.
Sure but this is like DRM. You just create an arms war.
Underage users would find ways to appear to be 18 or older. Or use multiple accounts to continue playing. This is already common in many grind games. You have support accounts that feed the main account items.
Or just straight up hacking the timer system. Or playing games published outside if China.
Remember we're talking about a totalitarian regime, where using real IDs for digital accounts is already a thing. Where importing unapproved foreign media is (presumably) banned. Where you can't so much as get a VPN without permission.
I'm sure some people will find ways around it, but I don't think that will be the norm.
I dont see it working any differently than piracy. If people can hack the bytecode to appear as though the game has received a valid key, I dont see why they cannot do the same for these restrictions.
And the code or techniques for doing so will get scrubbed from the internet. Individuals may independently figure it out, but they'll be a drop in the bucket.
