Editorial note: Vietnam recorded 4.9 billion mobile game downloads in 2025, ranking 2nd globally. The ecosystem currently has hundreds of studios operating, releasing more than 27,000 new games to the market. Estimated revenue reaches 1.66 billion USD in 2025. The above information was released at the Vietnam Game Forum 2026 held on May 8.
However, behind the bright picture above, there is a sad reality: A series of games released by Vietnamese businesses classified 18+ when licensed (i.e., for people aged 18 and over) are being classified on app stores with ages 12+, 13+ for children.
In addition, a series of large-scale public electronic game service points are still operating day and night, despite the regulation that they are not allowed to operate from 10 pm to 8 am the next morning, the main players are children and students.
The above situation has been going on for a long time, causing no small negative consequences for society and directly affecting children - the future buds of the country.
Responding to the Action Month for Children 2026 launched by the Ministry of Health with the theme: "Children are happy, safe, and steadfast in the digital age", Lao Dong Newspaper implements a series of articles: "Lookholes in Vietnam's game industry management", to contribute to preventing negative impacts on children's health and mental health.
18+ game invites 3-year-olds
VNG Group Joint Stock Company is known as a technology unicorn, a leading game publisher and developer in Vietnam and the region. This enterprise has successfully released more than 200 games in Vietnam.
However, according to actual records of Lao Dong Newspaper reporters, a series of games published by VNG and its subsidiaries are classifying the age of players incorrectly on application stores, according to licenses issued by the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (Department of PTTH&TTĐT), Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Typically, PUBG Mobile - a fairly famous survival shooting game. According to License No. 209/QD-PTTH&TTĐT, issued on May 29, 2025 by the Department of PTTH&TTĐT, PUBG Mobile's recommended age is 18+. But on Google Play, the age classification of this game is 12+, on Appstore, the age classification is 13+.
On CH Play, this game has more than 10 million downloads, 1 million reviews, while on the Appstore, the number of downloads is not disclosed.
Quang Huy (13 years old, name changed) - a student in Hanoi said that in one online session, he saw an advertisement for the PUBG Mobile shooting game, and in the app store, it was displayed for people aged 12 and over, so he downloaded it to play.
Playing a few games and getting addicted without realizing it. The feeling of "living - winning - losing" makes me unable to get out. My class also has many friends playing," Huy said.
From trying to play a few games, Quang Huy started spending hours each day, even secretly playing all night when his parents were asleep.
Mr. Manh Hoang (name changed) who is Quang Huy's father said that recently his son has many signs of playing games, prolonged game addiction such as: being taciturn, easily irritable and almost detached from family activities. When reminded, the child reacts strongly, even finding ways to hide the phone or borrow friends to play. His academic results also declined significantly.
To detoxify his son from being "addicted" to games, Mr. Hoang's family tried many ways such as confiscating his phone, limiting his time, and even cutting off the internet, but all were not long-term effective. Each time he was banned, the 8th-grade student reacted more negatively.
Now, quitting "game addiction" has become a stressful journey, a difficult problem for this parent. "I regret not observing and caring for my child more," Mr. Hoang said.
Not only PUBG Mobile, according to the reporter of Lao Dong Newspaper, a series of games published by VNG and its subsidiaries are also being classified as lower age on application stores, compared to licenses issued by the Department of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, such as: Vo Lam Truyen Ky Mobile, Tan Thien Long, Nghich Thuy Han, Lineage2M...
According to the license, the above games have a recommended age of 18+, but the classification on Google Play is only 12+ and Appstore is 13+. In particular, the game Vo Lam Truyen Ky Mobile displayed on the Appstore is only 9+.
On Google Play alone, the games mentioned above have tens of millions of downloads, and no one dares to be sure that among them, there are many Vietnamese children - like the story of the 8th grade student mentioned above.
Continuing to delve deeper into the investigation, we noted a series of games from other famous game publishers in Vietnam such as: Vietnam Electronic Entertainment and Sports Joint Stock Company (Garena Vietnam), Funtap Joint Stock Company, KPKa Joint Stock Company, VTC Mobile Services Joint Stock Company are also classifying age incorrectly on application stores compared to the licenses issued by the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information.
Even, there are games under licenses, the recommended age is 18+ but classified on the app store as 3+ (for children from 3 years old and up).
Information on age classification on the Appstore app store clearly states: 18+-labeled apps may contain content that is not suitable for users under 18 years old, including cases of gambling; or simulating frequent gambling, mentioning alcohol, tobacco or drug use, sex or nudity content, or real violence.
Game publishing decision may be revoked
Article 38 of Decree 147/2024/ND-CP clearly stipulates that online electronic games are classified according to age groups: 18+, 16+, 12+ and 00+.
The responsibility of businesses is to classify online electronic games themselves according to the regulated age of players.
Display the results of online electronic game classification by player age in the application for online electronic game service licensing. Continuously display the game classification results in the game device screen and in advertising content; the display location is actively chosen by the business. The icon of the game classification result must have an easy-to-recognize size and color.
In particular, Article 38 of Decree 147/2024/ND-CP clearly states:
When detecting that a business classifies electronic games G1, G2, G3, G4 on the network according to the age of players not in accordance with the provisions of Clause 1 of this Article, the Ministry of Information and Communications (Department of Broadcasting and Electronic Information), local Departments of Information and Communications (*) have a document requesting the business to adjust the classification of games within 15 days.
In case the enterprise does not adjust the game classification results according to the age of players as required, the management agency has a document requesting the enterprise to stop publishing that game and implement solutions to ensure the rights of players.
After 15 days, from the date the document is issued, if the enterprise does not stop issuing it as required, the management agency proceeds to revoke the Decision to publish online video game G1 and the Certificate of confirmation of the notice of online video game G2, G3, G4 issued to the enterprise".
(*) The Department of PTTH&TTĐT currently belongs to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In the locality, the field of PTTH&TTĐT was previously managed by the Department of Information and Communications, now under the management of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
