New York (CNN Business) Tencent will check the identities of all its gamers in China by 2019 with the aim of limiting the hours young people spend playing.

The tech conglomerate announced the sweeping new rules for its hundreds of millions of customers on Monday. It will check gamers' IDs against police databases and block any accounts it can't verify.

Tencent is responding to the Chinese government's increased scrutiny of video games . China claims it wants to reduce the incidence of nearsightedness in children and adolescents.

In a practice called "health system," Tencent said customer accounts will be "forcibly verified with real-name police system" to ensure people are who they claim to be. Unverified accounts won't be allowed to sign in.

Tencent piloted the new system for Honor of Kings , a hugely popular mobile game that it released in 2017. The new rules will be enforced on nine more of its mobile games by the end of this year, before being extended to all mobile and PC games in 2019.

Read More