The world's biggest online gaming company wants to prevent children in China from playing too much (TCEHY)

pulse

July 5, 2017 11:46 AM

The new tool will let teenagers play a maximum of two hours, while younger kids have one.

Tencent is the company behind China's most popular online game, "Honor of Kings," which has 50 million daily users, as well as the owner of WeChat, a messaging platform with close to 900 million monthly users.

According to the Journal, Tencent is the largest constituent of Hong Kong's stock market, the world's biggest online gaming company, and one of Asia's largest public companies in general.

State media has criticised the company over the popularity of "Honor of Kings," which also attracted the government's attention, The Wall Street Journal reported, and Tencent is now trying to adopt new methods to reduce children's dependence on online gaming.

The company's new online mechanism will now let children under 12 play a maximum of one hour per day, while children aged 12 to 18 will be able to play for up to two hours.

The system also incorporates a tool that Tencent first launched in April, that lets parents link their account to those of their children in order to monitor their activity.

According to the The Wall Street Jorunal, the platform has almost 700,000 accounts already registered.

Analysts warned that the move would have a negative impact on the company, which according to The Wall Street Journal generates about 30% of its revenue from online gaming.

Tencent's plans and the controversy with the media and government alarmed investors, and the firm's stock dropped by 4.1% on Tuesday as a result, bringing down Hong Kong's entire stock index.

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