Oof. If you thought RealID was a bad call, point your eyeballs at China, where Tencent has announced it will expand its existing “addiction-prevention” system across all of its titles.
MMO players will recall that last year, Tencent implemented what are effectively child locks on its outrageously popular MOBA Honour of Kings (aka Arena of Valor), blocking children under 18 from playing more than a few hours a day. Those locks were reportedly put in place to avoid regulation from the Chinese government, which has in 2018 been refusing to approve new games in the region at all. Earlier this year, the company followed those measures up with a real-name registration system and facial-recognition test.
Reuters now reports that Tencent has announced it’ll bring that “healthy gaming” system to nine of its other games by the end of the year, with full implementation across all of its titles in 2019.
The company has lost 28% of its stock value this year alone as it bleeds expected revenue, unable to monetize its new games in the region thanks to China’s crackdown.
