(Yicai Global) Sept. 9 -- Chinese internet firms Tencent Holdings and NetEase have pledged their support to the government in its efforts to beat minors' possible gaming addictions after talks with multiple regulators.

Tencent will strengthen its work to make content safe and to comply with the rules to protect minors’ physical and psychological health, the Paper reported yesterday, citing the Shenzhen-based firm.

NetEase will unveil more well-made and sophisticated products via technological innovation to guide minors to play games in a healthy way, the Guangzhou-headquartered company said to the Paper.

The Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the National Press and Publication Administration, and other government agencies summoned key domestic game firms, account leasing marketplaces, and game live streaming platforms for talks yesterday.

The aim of the meeting was for the firms to realize that they must have a profound understanding of the importance and urgency of preventing minors from being addicted to online games and obey the relevant regulations to the letter, according to the report.

The sector has been in turmoil after a gaming curfew was introduced. Since Aug. 30, people aged under 18 can only play online games between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. from Friday to Sunday and during public holidays in China. During the first Saturday, players of Tencent's Honor of Kings suspected online that the firm's servers crashed because of too many login attempts.

But young gamers have found a loophole. Minors can bypass the curfew by buying or leasing game accounts online, Yicai Global discovered. After spending CNY33 (USD5) on an e-commerce platform, Yicai Global could play for two hours online on Sept. 7 without being interrupted by requests to confirm the player's identity.

The companies seem to be aware of the loophole. Tencent's gaming arm has contacted or filed a lawsuit against more than 20 account trading platforms, as well as several e-commerce platforms, asking them to stop the related services, said the firm.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi