Tencent to require all gamers to verify their identities with police database from next year

Tencent Holdings will require all players of its mobile and personal computer games to verify their identities against police databases from next year as part of its attempts to assuage government concern that excessive gaming is hurting the health of the country’s young.

The company last month made it mandatory for players in nine Chinese cities including Beijing to verify their age to log into its popular Honour of Kings mobile game. Under the new plan, Tencent will roll out the mandatory verification to another nine of its most popular games before introducing them for all of its games from next year.

Globally, the World Health Organisation in its disease classification manual stated that compulsively playing video games qualifies as a mental health condition.

“Tencent is making the anti-addiction measures the benchmark for the industry. Other small companies will have to adopt the similar measures,” said William Li, senior analyst at Beijing-based data research company Context Lab. “With the stricter rules, the whole gaming industry will be negatively affected.”

Tencent’s shares fell for the first time in four days, slipping 3.8 per cent to HK$292 as of 3:02pm in Hong Kong trading. The stock has declined 28 per cent this year, compared with the 13 per cent drop in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Gaming addiction has been in the public eye, with various government agencies and state media criticising the unhealthy impact that excessive playing of video games is having on the young. But the issue arguably seized public imagination and indignation after a member of China’s top political advisory body called video games the new “opium” at this year’s Two Sessions meetings in March.

To those familiar with China’s history, the charge of peddling opium is an emotive one.