Hong Kong (November 06, 2018): Tencent Holdings will expand an addiction-prevention system for underage gamers to all of its games.
Tencent Holdings, which runs the world’s largest video games business by revenue, has made it mandatory for players in nine Chinese cities including Beijing to verify their age to log into mobile game Honour of Kings, while pushing for restricted playing time for minors to protect them from becoming addicted to online gaming.
That identification process, which Tencent implemented on Thursday in Beijing, verifies the information provided against the police database.
Those who fail verification will be prohibited from logging into the blockbuster multiplayer online battle game, which has more than 200 million users. On Friday, the company extended the authentication to eight more cities.
Shenzhen-based Tencent plans to expand its compulsory age verification system nationwide and include its other popular games, the company said in a statement released on Thursday.
The latest move by Tencent updated a system it launched last month to verify the identities of new Honour of Kings players by cross-referencing with public security databases.
The company said it was the first time such data has been used by the gaming industry to screen users.
The move marks Tencent’s latest attempt to meet the Chinese government’s call for tighter controls to combat gaming addiction and increasing hear-sightedness among young people.
A state announcement in August called for the publishing regulator to control the number of new online video games and to limit the amount of time young Chinese spend playing such games.
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