China's Tencent Imposes Limits On Kid's Mobile Gaming

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CHINA'S TENCENT IMPOSES LIMIT'S ON KID'S MOBILE GAMING

Talking Tencent On China Global Television Network (Photo: CGTN)

Talking Tencent On China Global Television Network (Photo: CGTN)

TNL Take: I'm absolutely fascinated by Tencent.

They're the world's largest gaming company and dominate eSports.

Tencent's eSports Domination (Graphic: The Next Level)

Tencent's eSports Domination (Graphic: The Next Level)

They acquired the largest independent mobile gaming company Supercell at a whopping $10B valuation.

Tencent and Supercell (Photo: Tencent)

Tencent and Supercell (Photo: Tencent)

As Chinese and US legal laws are vastly different to put it mildly, it was very interesting to see Tencent take action themselves and limit kids mobile gaming time on their massive hit "Honour of Kings".

Before we get to the restrictions some quick stats on how big this game is:

  • Monthly users are estimated between 160M -200M
  • 2017 revenue is estimated between $1B - $1.5B
  • Tencent is looking at building a theme park around this game alone

These restrictions came from parents complaining about their kids "addiction" to the game and teachers annoyed by the distraction in schools - aka the Chinese fidget spinner.  Tencent's restrictions are pretty amazing for a Chinese company that's not required to do this:

  • Kids under 12 can only play for 1 hour and not after 9pm
  • Those between 12-18 can play for 2 hours

How does this game compare to the US? How does this affect Tencent's financials? Will other Chinese companies follow suit? Are there US examples of similar restrictions?

I chatted with Rachelle Akuffo with Chinese Global Television Network's on their "Global Business America" show to discuss this further.