HONG KONG, Jan 2 (Reuters) - China removed an official at a government body overseeing its press and publications regulator, five sources who were briefed on the matter said, days after Chinese gaming stocks were hit by proposed rules to curb spending on video games.

Feng Shixin was removed last week from his position as head of the publishing unit of the Communist Party's Publicity Department, the sources said. The department oversees the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) which in turn regulates China's vast video games sector.

China's State Council Information Office, which handles media queries on behalf of the Chinese government, including on personnel matters, did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Reuters was unable to obtain Feng's contact details to reach him for comment.

The five sources said Feng's removal was linked to rules the NPPA announced last month that sent stocks in the world's largest video games sector, including industry giant Tencent (0700.HK), plunging.

Well look at China back paddle again, where is that "evidence" some troll mentioned about and psychology class 101 blah blah. This is so predictable just like the western "think for the kids" policy changes without any long term thinking or any science backing that decision. (like some US states pushing for abstinent for sex ed instead of safe sex and then cost a lot more social or politically cause unwanted baby or black market abortion.)

For any one that tries to hail that and ban mtx, gacha, season pass, but do not put more energy on pushing legislation to ban lottery, casino, mall gacha eggs, trading cards, kinder eggs or McDonald kid's meal collectables, you are a hypocrite.

We need more education on math(probability and game theory), sales strategy and involved psychology tricks( FOMO, door in the face, etc), financial/budgeting literacy and planning like you teach how to eat healthy and exercise, as they affect your everyday life. We can push for things that collect data for strange spending behavior(enforced if they play those gacha/mtx/online casino) and catch vulnerable people that are prone to become gambling addicts and direct them to therapy and bar them from more spending if cross a threshold(say $500/month) defined by law or regulation to protect their finance(play.com in Canada has something similar if I remember). Well, until the psychologist and bank says okay as we can't stop retirees to burn their fun allowance for whatever they like, like we can't stop you from buying collector edition and then they sit somewhere collecting dust. Or, you know, go to arcade burn like 100 dollars and then your ticket only trades for toys you can buy at dollar store for maybe 10 bucks total. Some people burn that money for the experience knowing fully well they won't make a return, and are not addicts.

And for the trolls, I don't care about the up/down votes anywhere, feel free to waste your time do that.