Photo/Illutration A student plays a game on his smartphone in Tokyo while using his tablet device to watch an online video game played by others. (Kotaro Ebara)

Nearly 10 percent of people between the ages of 10 and 29 are so hooked on video games that they play at least four hours a day on a weekday, according to the first nationwide survey on the issue by the health ministry.

Of them, 30 percent play games for at least six hours and keep going even if it starts interfering with school or work activities.

Typically, die-hard fans complain of back pain and sore eyes from being hunched over devices for so long.

The research team surveyed 9,000 people aged 10 to 29 at random nationwide from January to March and 56.6 percent responded.

It was the first such nationwide survey, according to Susumu Higuchi, who headed the team and is director of the National Hospital Organization Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center.

The survey found that 85 percent of the respondents played games during the past year. Of them, 7 percent spent more than four hours but less than six hours a day playing games on weekdays. Three percent played games for six hours or more.

A quarter of the respondents played games for at least four hours a day on days off. The figure exceeds one-third among male respondents.

One in four people who played games for six hours or more each weekday considers “playing games is the most important thing in life,” according to the survey. They are so addicted that they keep playing games even if it disrupts their school or work performance.

In addition, 40 percent of those who played games for six hours or more on a weekday kept playing games even after they developed physical and mental problems, such as difficulty sleeping and feeling depressed or anxious.