Chinese gamers will soon have to register their real names before they can be allowed to play Tencent's Honor of Kings, a fantasy multiplayer role-playing battle game that is currently the highest grossing mobile game in the country. Through the registration process, the game publisher hopes to restrict the access for underaged players.
The move is in compliance with a government's policy aimed at preventing gaming addictions among children. Last week, China's education ministry announced that it will limit the number of online games approval, enforced stricter age-appropriate reminders on content, and limit the allowable time that minors could engage in online games.
The ministry explained that the move is in accordance with the government's effort to reduce myopia or nearsightedness among the youth. Aside from health concerns, the government also believed that addressing the problem now will also prevent a future labor shortage in jobs that require perfect eye vision, such as careers in the aviation sector.
Tencent said in a WeChat post the required name registration will start around Sept. 15. The system to be used will be connected to China's public security database integrated into police archives.
Tencent added the company hopes it can better safeguard the under-aged players and instill healthy gaming habits. The game publisher also called on the parents to monitor their children's activities to ensure that there will be no identity theft and transfers through the gaming system.
The game publisher said it will use a system that is the first of its kind in the country. The system is highly advanced that once information is entered underaged players will have time restrictions that the company had integrated previously. In 2017, Honor Kings received widespread criticism due to accusations that it can be addictive to children. Tencent responded promptly by implementing a time restriction, allowing only a maximum of one hour a day for children 12 years old and below, and a maximum of two hours for teens aged 13 to 18.
Reuters noted that shares of Tencent have fallen once more after its announcement of real name registration. Shares dropped more than 3 percent to their lowest level in more than a year. The game publisher has lost an overall $197 billion in market valuation following consecutive gaming regulations imposed by the Chinese government.
Tencent is not alone in this ordeal. Two other Chinese game developers, China Youzu Interactive and Perfect World, suffered dropped in their respective share prices.
Still, market analysts believed China's largest gaming publishers will find ways to replace loss they incurred in China's market.
Guo Chengjie, an analyst at consultancy iResearch, told Forbes that China's biggest game developers may accelerate the effort to expand their market abroad.
Tencent has actually started taking this track. Last week it entered a joint venture with Tokyo's Square Enix which is behind the popular Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider.
In recent years, Tencent invested in Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, and Epic Games from the United States and Supercell Oy in Finland. It also acquired Bluehole in South Korea.
On the other hand, games developed by Tencent are also being marketed outside of China. In fact, its game PUBG Mobile delivered more than $50 million in revenues since its official release in the international market in March.
