Tencent sues 20+ platforms for selling and renting game accounts in wake of China’s latest regulations

Buying game accounts online was the only way for underage gamers in China to bypass the playtime restrictions. Tencent decided to sue more than 20 platforms that sell and rent these accounts.

Chinese newspaper People’s Daily shared the news on September 7. These platforms allowed minors to spend around $5 to rent accounts for games like Honor of Kings for two hours and bypass the real-name registration system that Tencent uses to follow the government’s playtime restrictions.

Tencent filed the lawsuit just a week after the new regulations came into force, allowing gamers under the age of 18 to play online games for only three hours a week. The rules also led to Honor of Kings servers crashing over the weekend after millions of people tried to log into the game simultaneously.