The Chinese publisher Tencent is the owner of the League of Legends developer Riot Games and also earns well with the mobile game King of Glory. To protect minors from gaming addiction, Tencent has implemented strict protective measures for the mobile game. Are these measures also threatening League of Legends?
Tencent is a Chinese software giant that has held the majority of shares in Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends, since early 2011. By now, Riot Games fully belongs to the Chinese giant.
In China, the publisher is currently making a fortune with the mobile title King of Glory.
King of Glory has over 200 million registered players and about 80 million people play the mobile title daily at the same time – that is roughly the total population of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Thus, the game is a huge success for publisher Tencent, which generated revenues of over 883 million US dollars in the first quarter of 2017.
Among the players of King of Glory, there are also many children and teenagers who tend to overdo it. Therefore, there has been considerable trouble lately and new protective measures for children and teenagers are expected. Is this also threatening LoL?
Addicted and harmed children – Publisher is facing trouble
According to the Chinese news site Technode, about 20 percent of the players of King of Glory are under 18 and 19 percent are even under 12 years old. According to Hong Kong Free Press and Chinese state media, a 17-year-old suffered a stroke after 40 hours of continuous play of King of Glory in April.
A report from PCGamesN also mentions a 13-year-old who broke his legs after jumping out of a third-floor window. The reason: His parents had forbidden him from playing the game.
Moreover, gaming addiction, according to Hong Kong Free Press, is a problem in China: About 24 million people are addicted to online games. Parents are already putting their children into anti-gaming addiction boot camps.
All of this led to a critical newspaper article in China’s largest newspaper People’s Daily, which is also the official newspaper of the ruling party.
It accused Tencent and King of Glory of harming the Chinese people, as they are increasingly falling prey to gaming addiction. According to Technode, the article caused Tencent’s stock prices to drop by 4.44 percent to “only” 34 US dollars on Tuesday.
Tencent wants to establish the strictest anti-addiction policies in the world – also for LoL?
As stock prices indicate, large firms do not enjoy negative publicity, and Tencent has already spoken out to counter this bad press. Starting next Tuesday, extensive anti-addiction measures for King of Glory are to be implemented:
- Players under 12 years old may only play for one hour per day
- Players aged between 12 and 18 may only play for two hours per day
- Those under 12 years old may also not log in after 9 PM and maximum real-money spending is strictly limited
So far, these measures have only been announced for King of Glory. However, if successful, they may also be applied to other Tencent games and even LoL players in the Middle Kingdom may face a limit on playtime.
What do you think of these strict protective measures against excessive gaming? Appropriate or mean harassment? Let us know in the comments!
Also interesting: China bans streams of unapproved games
