“Our users spent more time on online entertainment, including video and games, during the coronavirus outbreak,” Martin Lau, Tencent’s president, said during the earnings call on Wednesday. “But we shifted more resources and people … to public service sectors, such as online health care and online education during the pandemic.”

Tencent’s blockbuster games Honour of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite , which topped the iOS game revenue charts during the Lunar New Year week, both achieved an all-time peak for daily active users during the period, according to Niko Partners.

Lau stressed that the company remains focused on long-term development of the gaming sector, driven by international partnerships and expansion in overseas markets. Tencent’s international revenue rose to 23 per cent of total online gaming revenue in the fourth quarter, while online gaming revenue grew by 25 per cent annually to 30.3 billion yuan in the fourth quarter. The increase was primarily driven by revenue growth from smart phone games in both domestic and overseas markets

“Looking forward, we’ll continue to reinforce our development abilities and our relationships with international partners,” said Lau. “We’re in full swing right now for the global launch of the mobile version of League of Legends,” said Lau.

Tencent warned of a difficult overall advertising environment in China but said the picture was mixed – with education, entertainment and health care doing well while automobiles and luxury product segments were more challenging.

Revenue from online advertising increased by 10 per cent to 20.2 billion yuan for the fourth quarter of 2019.

“Payment activities dropped sharply during the Lunar New Year holiday followed by a rebound in the following week,” said James Mitchell, Tencent’s chief strategy officer, on the earnings call. “We have seen a recovery in March … supply is coming back although there is still some suppression of demand.”

Revenue at the company’s fintech and business services division increased 12 per cent to 29.9 billion yuan for the fourth quarter.

Tencent says coronavirus fight will push digital infrastructure in China

“[The impact of] Covid-19 is temporary and strong execution, together with amplifying effects of viral social ecosystem, are keys to success,” Jefferies analyst Thomas Chong wrote in a report after the earnings call, adding that the company’s “rich games pipeline” and technological strengths in advertising would help pave the way for sustainable growth.

Noting Tencent management’s statement during the call that the company’s fintech and business services could be affected by slowdowns in offline activities in February and early March, Chong wrote that “we consider [this to be] temporary and remain positive about Tencent's fintech outlook”.