Tencent Limits Access to Hit Game Honor of Kings For Underage

Tencent's hit mobile game Honor of Kings (called Strike of Kings in the West) is apparently getting a bit TOO popular for its own good. So much so that it's widespread popularity (over 50M daily active users) led to some harsh criticism from The People's Daily, a Chinese language publication known to be affiliated with the Communist Party government. This led Tencent to implement restrictions on the game for underage players with those under the age of 13 being able to play for 1 hour a day and those under 17 having access for 2 hours. Adults are not effected by the new restrictions.

It's game's addictive nature can be seen in this report:

A 17-year-old from Guangdong Province suffered a type of stroke after spending 40 consecutive hours on the game, and a 13-year-old jumped off a building after being lectured by his father for spending too much time playing on his phone.

This kind of behavior isn't limited to Honor of Kings, but it has certainly attracted a lot of negative media attention for Tencent. People have been known to die in South Korea due to game addiction and the only reason Honor of Kings is being singled out in China is due to its huge popularity. The game is expected to generate a whopping $3.2B in revenue this year, about half of Tencent's entire mobile gaming revenue. $3.2B would make it the highest grossing online game, earning almost twice as much as League of Legends, the #2 title.

Honor of Kings is expected to launch in August or September here in the West in English as Strike of Kings.