Tencent makes age verification mandatory to play blockbuster game Honour of Kings
- The Shenzhen-based internet giant plans to roll out this process nationwide, adding its other popular 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.
Tencent started to connect the information of existing users with the public security authority’s database from October 16.
