Tencent reacted quickly to harsh criticism from state-owned Chinese media on the dangers of excessive gaming, vowing to restrict younger users playing its flagship Honor of Kings title.
In a statement, the company called for the industry to discuss a complete ban on gaming for children under 12 years-old and cracking down on those pretending to be adults.
It also plans to curb the time and money children can spend on games, starting with Honor of Kings, bringing play time down from one-and-a-half hours to one on weekdays, and from three hours on weekends to two.
Tencent was responding to criticism by state-associated media outlet The Economic Information Daily, which originally described Honor of Kings and other online games as addictive and called for stricter regulation, Reuters reported.
Various reports stated the original article was later deleted, but it raised concerns Tencent’s key gaming unit could become a target for a government crackdown on tech companies over privacy, security and market power concerns.
In May, China’s cybersecurity regulator targeted app developers [1] over claims they collected user data without consent.
And in late 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation discussed ways to tackle anti-monopolistic practices [2] with Tencent and Alibaba executives.
[1] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/apps/news-apps/china-targets-33-apps-for-illegal-data-collection
[2] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/asia/asia-news/china-watchdog-plots-internet-platform-curbs
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