Tencent Holdings Ltd. will expand its age-verification system to encompass its entire games lineup, the firm has announced, in an unprecedented response to growing criticism that it encourages addiction among youths.
The Chinese social media and entertainment titan intends to check all gamers' identities against police databases by 2019, extending a procedure it pioneered for the mobile phenomenon "Honour of Kings."
It will roll the system out to 10 of its most popular games before expanding if further to its entire library, the company said in a post on its official WeChat account on Monday. That enormous undertaking — covering scores of titles — is aimed at identifying under-aged users who are subject to curbs on playing time.