(Yicai Global) Dec. 29 -- China is taking action against illegal online games and ones with vulgar content, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Eight agencies including the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Cyberspace Administration and the Ministry of Education issued guidelines, calling for immediate investigations into internet games with major followings.

Despite the rapid growth of online games in China and the impact on development of the internet technology and the digital economy, many online games are still low class, and some distort history and make fun of heroes, the guidelines say. Addiction is a major problem in the industry that induces players to leak their personal information.

Authorities should deal with games featuring prohibited content such as violence and obscenity, shut down operators that lack authorization and block overseas games with content that breaches Chinese law, the agencies said.

Enterprises offering online games are to conduct self-examinations and corrections, and to reject and delete any inappropriate content.

The revenue China's online games generated rose 22.1 percent annually to CNY134.1 billion (USD20.6 billion) in the first 11 months of this year, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology data show.