Problem-gaming research is shifting from hours to compulsion
Whether too much play is an illness, a parenting problem or a product defect depends on where you are. The newest research says hours played is the wrong measure, and that matters because nearly every rule written so far measures hours.
Where it stands
A 2025 study in JAMA followed 4,285 American children and tied suicidal behavior to compulsive use, not total screen time, with a weaker link for games than for social media and phones. The World Health Organization calls gaming disorder a diagnosis, while American psychiatry says it needs more study. More than 100 US lawsuits argue that games were designed to be addictive. How common it is remains unsettled, and the authors of the best-known estimate, about 3% of people, say such figures are inflated.
| Market | How it is treated | The rule or practice | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global | A recognized diagnosis | The World Health Organization's disease classification, in effect since 2022, lists gaming disorder. The WHO says it affects only a small proportion of people who play. | |
| USA | Not a diagnosis: further study | The American Psychiatric Association's manual lists internet gaming disorder only among conditions recommended for further research. The argument is being had in court instead, in lawsuits against game makers. | |
| South Korea | Undecided | South Korea has not adopted the WHO's diagnosis. The council of officials and outside experts meant to decide has not done so, and in September 2025 the statistics office said its timetable would slip. The disease classification that applies from 2026 has no gaming code. | |
| China | Three hours a week for under-18s | Online games may serve under-18s only from 8pm to 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. | National Press and Publication Administration (30 August 2021) |
| Japan | One prefecture, advisory only | Kagawa prefecture's ordinance asks under-18s to keep to 60 minutes of games a day on weekdays and 90 on weekends. It carries no penalties. | |
| India | Advice to parents, no rule | There is no rule. A 2021 advisory from the education ministry says play without limits can lead to gaming disorder, and asks parents not to allow in-game purchases without their consent and to cap spending per transaction. | Ministry of Education, via the Press Information Bureau (10 December 2021) |
| UK | No rule: treated on the health service | There is no legal limit. The National Centre for Gaming Disorders, funded by the National Health Service, opened in London in October 2019 and has received over 1,000 referrals. | National Centre for Gaming Disorders staff, BJPsych Open (August 2024) |
| Brazil | A duty to prevent compulsive use | Since a decree of 18 March 2026, services that children are likely to use, games included, must have mechanisms to prevent excessive, problematic or compulsive use. The decree names hidden stopping points, content that starts unasked, rewards for time spent and excessive notifications. It sets no limit on hours. |
Timeline
2018
Twenty-six researchers ask the WHO to hold off
A group of scholars including Andrew Przybylski of Oxford publishes a paper titled 'A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder'. A formal diagnosis, they write, needs a much stronger evidence base, and carries a genuine risk of being misapplied.
van Rooij and colleagues, Journal of Behavioral Addictions (2018)
2019
The World Health Assembly recognizes gaming disorder
On 25 May 2019 the WHO's member states adopt the eleventh revision of its disease classification, which lists gaming disorder as a mental health condition. It takes effect on 1 January 2022.
World Health Organization, World Health Assembly update (25 May 2019)
2020
A Japanese prefecture sets a daily limit for children
Kagawa's ordinance takes effect on 1 April 2020: 60 minutes a day on weekdays and 90 on weekends for under-18s. The prefecture says it has no plans to enforce penalties.
2021
South Korea scraps its midnight gaming curfew
South Korea announces the end of its shutdown law, which since 2011 had barred under-16s from online games between midnight and 6am. It is replaced by a system that lets parents choose the hours.
China cuts under-18s to three hours a week
Five days after South Korea's announcement, China's regulator limits minors to one hour of online games, 8pm to 9pm, on Fridays, weekends and public holidays.
National Press and Publication Administration (30 August 2021)
A review of 53 studies puts gaming disorder at about 3% of people
Pooling 53 studies of 226,247 people in 17 countries, researchers estimate that 3.05% of people meet the criteria for gaming disorder. Using only the studies with the strictest sampling, the figure is 1.96%, with a range so wide that it runs from 0.19% to 17.12%.
Stevens, Dorstyn, Delfabbro and King, Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (2021)
2025
More than 100 US lawsuits are gathered in a California court
Miller & Zois, a law firm that represents plaintiffs in cases like these and so has an interest in them, says more than 100 lawsuits accusing game makers of designing addictive products have been coordinated before one judge in Los Angeles. A federal panel has twice refused to combine such cases nationally, in June 2024 and again at the turn of 2026, citing the differences among the games and the companies.
Lawsuit Information Center, Miller & Zois (updated 31 July 2026)
A large US study ties compulsive use, not hours, to suicide risk
Researchers follow 4,285 American children for four years. How much time they spent on screens did not predict suicidal behavior. A pattern of compulsive use did. For video games, children on the high-compulsion path were 1.54 times as likely to report suicidal behavior. For social media and phones the figure was more than double.
2026
The US Surgeon General advises limits on screen time
The Surgeon General's office issues an advisory on children's screen use that recommends time limits, and names gaming among the patterns of behavior it is concerned about.
An eight-year Finnish study links more screen time to slightly better thinking skills
Researchers who followed 260 Finnish children for eight years find that those with more total screen time scored slightly better on tests of cognition at about 16. The authors say the study cannot show that screens caused the difference. It measured all screen time, not games alone.
Consequences
012025
What to watch for is the pattern, not the clock
The authors of the American study argue that parents, doctors and researchers should track whether a child's use is becoming compulsive over time, rather than counting hours. Total screen time, they found, told them nothing about who was at risk.
022025
South Korea's culture ministry says a disease label would hurt the industry
Two South Korean ministries are split. The health ministry favors adopting the WHO's diagnosis. The culture ministry says it could lead to social stigma, distort how games are seen, and shrink the industry, and eight industry associations have called the addiction framing an insult.
032022
China says its cap worked, and that children moved to short videos
Global Times, a newspaper owned by the Chinese state, reported that China's games industry body said minors' game addiction had been basically solved, with more than 75% playing under three hours a week. The same report found that 65.54% of minors had moved the time they used to spend on games to short-video apps.
042025
The lawsuits could reach far beyond a few games
This comes from the same plaintiffs' law firm, which stands to gain if the litigation grows. When the federal panel refused to combine the US cases, part of its reasoning was that the litigation would likely expand to include many additional games and developers. If the claims succeed, the exposure is in how games are designed and sold, not in how long anyone plays.
Lawsuit Information Center, Miller & Zois (updated 31 July 2026)
Objections
Counterpoint2025
The study's frightening number is not about games
Coverage of the American study often says compulsive use more than doubled suicide risk. That is the finding for social media and mobile phones. For video games the paper gives 1.54. The authors also note that the data are self-reported and that the study shows association, not cause.
Counterpoint2026
The rules are still about time
The research has moved from hours to compulsion, but the people who write rules mostly have not. The US Surgeon General's 2026 advisory is framed around time limits. China's cap and Kagawa's ordinance are unchanged limits on hours.
Counterpoint2021
Nobody knows how common it is
The authors of the 3.05% estimate say prevalence figures appear to be inflated by how studies are done: the choice of questionnaire alone explained 77% of the variation between them. The figures come from self-completed questionnaires, not clinical diagnosis. No health system publishes how many people are diagnosed each year.
Stevens, Dorstyn, Delfabbro and King, Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry (2021)
What to watch
2026
South Korea's decision on the WHO code
South Korea's long-delayed decision on whether to adopt the WHO's gaming disorder code, pushed from October 2025 into 2026 with no date set.
2027
The first rulings in the California cases
The first rulings in the coordinated California lawsuits, on whether the claims can proceed and whether a game counts as a product. As of the end of July 2026 the plaintiffs' law firm tracking the cases recorded none.
Lawsuit Information Center, Miller & Zois (updated 31 July 2026)
Further reading
- ResearchStudy Finds Addictive Screen Use, Not Total Screen Time, Linked to Youth Suicide Risknews.weill.cornell.edu
- CommunityW66 days clean. I might stop. This is just not doing anything for me (r/StopGaming)reddit.com
- CommunityNew Study Challenges Common Assumptions About Screen Time For Kidshardware.slashdot.org
Where to follow it Journal of Behavioral Addictions, BMC Psychiatry, Oxford Internet Institute (Przybylski), KOCCA white papers for the Korean framing
- Old games take most of players' time
- Older players are a large audience the industry overlooks
- Campaigners are pressing to keep sold games playable
- Players are using review scores as a protest vote
- Regulators are age-gating loot boxes
- Governments are weighing legal caps on children's playtime
- Children's privacy rules are nudging games toward checking every player's age
- China is using game approvals as a policy dial