China’s Tencent Holdings said third-quarter revenue climbed 10%, as its games business rebounded from a regulatory crackdown on the country’s tech sector and online advertising sales surged.
Sales for the world’s largest video game company and operator of the WeChat messaging platform came in at 154.6 billion yuan ($21.4 billion) – in line with market forecasts – for the three months to end of September, its third straight quarter of revenue growth.
Last year was one of the toughest years for Chinese video game companies after a regulatory crackdown that began in 2021 led to an eight month-long freeze in licences for new games and more restrictions on playing time for minors. Tencent ended up posting an annual revenue decline for the first time.
The industry has rallied this year after regulators resumed granting game licences.
Tencent’s domestic games revenue for the quarter grew 5%, driven by titles such as the multi-player role-playing game “Lost Ark” and shooting game “Valorant”, developed by Riot Games – both of which Tencent launched for the first time in China in July.
In a call with analysts on Wednesday, Tencent highlighted nine games, including “Honor of Kings World”, “Valorant Mobile”, “Monster Hunter Mobile” and “Assassin’s Creed Mobile”, that are pending to be released.
“We have a substantial pipeline of new games in development including games that expand our own game IPs … and mobile games that utilise well-loved licensed IPs,” Martin Lau, the company’s president, said, referring to intellectual property.
Credit: https://www.reuters.com/technology/tencent-logs-strong-revenue-growth-games-sales-shine-2023-11-15/