Tencent Rolls Out Updated Anti-Addiction System to 21 More Mobile Titles

Apr 21, 2020, 16:51pm2020/04/21 16:51:32 Tony Xu

Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> on Tuesday announced the rollout of its updated anti-addiction system to another 21 mobile titles, increasing the number of mobile games covered by the system to 33, according to a post on its official gaming WeChat account.

First implemented in four Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> titles in January, which includes one of the company’s most profitable games, Peacekeeper Elite, the new anti-addiction system will be integrated into all of Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder />’s mobile games by the first half of 2020, according to the company.

The system requires compulsory real-name registration and limits the time and money underage users can spend in the game. Users under 18 are allowed to play for up to 3 hours per day during official holidays but are otherwise limited to 1.5 hours of playtime per day. Between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. the next day, underage users are blocked from games.

The 21 titles newly covered by the system include some heavyweight titles, such as sandbox MMO ReEvolve, as well as augmented reality title Let’s Hunt Monsters, which is often considered to be the Chinese clone of Pokémon Go.

In addition to covering mobile games that require clients, Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> has also expanded the new anti-addiction system to include WeChat and QQ mini-games, the company said in the WeChat post.

Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> started building an anti-addiction system in 2017, upgrading the system several times to give parents and teachers more control over and information of underage users’ access to games.

The company’s recent update to the system is a response to a set of guidelines issued by the General Administration of Press and Publication in November 2019, which detailed the standards for limiting underage users from excessive screen time as well as the punishments for companies that fail to comply.

In March, Tencent<img decoding="async" class="trade-card__loading" layout="fixed" height="50" width="50" src="https://assets.pandaily.com/uploads/2021/12/loading.png" placeholder /> also included age recommendation information for ten titles, including Honor of Kings, League of Legends, and FIFA Mobile.