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China’s gaming crackdown pushes Tencent towards further age restrictions in Honor of Kings

As part of a government campaign to prevent myopia amongst children and reduce gameplay time

China’s gaming crackdown pushes Tencent towards further age restrictions in Honor of Kings

Tencent is introducing further age checks in response to incoming regulations from the Chinese government aimed at restricting gameplay time amongst children and teens.

From September 15th the publisher will be implementing a real-name registration procedure for new players of its hit mobile MOBA Honor of Kings (Arena of Valor).

Such a system will be linked to China’s public security database, identifying underage players and setting time restrictions accordingly.

“Through these measures, Tencent hopes to continue to better guide underaged players to game sensibly,” said Tencent, in a statement on WeGame.

Honor of Kings is one of Tencent's most popular games in the region, generating revenue of $1.9 billion last year. The game already limits play session time in China based on a user's age following previous criticism from the Chinese government.

Game’s off

Tencent is likely keen to keep on the government’s good side. The company has already lost $20 billion in value after China rolled out new restrictions on games.

The country had placed a ban on all new game releases that lasted several months during a government restructure, severely impacting local developers.

The Chinese government hopes restrictions on games will help solve the country’s apparent growing problem with myopia (near-sightedness) among the young.


Staff Writer

Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.