Tencent launches 60 new video games, partners with Microsoft as rivalry with ByteDance heats up
- The major launch comes days after Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studios and Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios formed a strategic partnership
- Analysts, however, see Tencent’s new video game titles achieving a more modest amount of success compared with previous releases
“Video games are becoming a ‘super digital scenario’ with endless possibilities,” said Steven Ma, Tencent’s senior vice-president and gaming chief, at this year’s conference. He indicated that video games are increasingly becoming more like social media platforms, where users can socialise and businesses can advertise in a 3D space.
“With the rapid growth of technologies, games are playing a different role in many areas … and it’s unleashing unimaginable power,” Ma said.
“Play can be seen as a form of productivity,” Ma said. “Users around the world have created more than 18 million games on Roblox. This number is already three times the total number of films in history.”
This year’s new content launch by Tencent, whose video gaming-related revenue topped 156 billion yuan (US$24.2 billion) last year, comes three days after flagship gaming studio TiMi and Microsoft’s Xbox Games formed a strategic partnership to co-develop new titles. Further details of this deal is expected to be announced later this year.
ByteDance ploughs US$15 million into Roblox rival, challenging Tencent
“It is quite obvious that the market is now more interested in learning what ByteDance may come up with next, compared to Tencent,” said Zheng Jintiao, co-founder of online media outlet GamerBoom.
“If you look at the titles Tencent is going to publish and games Tencent has invested in, it has been forced to take quite a few subpar games,” Zheng said. “Although it may amount to barely any additional cost for Tencent, the success rate for these new titles will obviously be weaker than that of previous line-ups.”
Video gaming has become a top priority for ByteDance. It has proven to be an effective way to monetise users from social media apps – a strategy used by Tencent – and develop a new revenue stream as a hedge against hit app TikTok someday falling out of fashion. ByteDance’s gaming business has grown to more than 3,000 employees over the span of three years.
Tencent ex-employee to pay US$167,000 for breaking non-compete pact
Tencent’s latest line-up of new video games is mostly for mobile devices. More than 20 titles are mobile games adapted from beloved anime properties, such as One Piece and Dynasty Warriors, and other gaming franchises. There are also three romance titles targeted at female gamers as well as four so-called serious games for education.
“The latest Tencent conference showed a lot of games, covering different genres and IP,” said Liao Xuhua, gaming analyst at Beijing-based Analysys. “It is a testament to Tencent’s dominance in the market, while showcasing many [of the company’s] cultural values, collaborations with gamers as well as technical strides and innovations.”
Still, the new games are not expected to leave a sort of era-defining mark like Tencent’s widely popular Honour of Kings . “The games won’t have bad results in the near term, but it will be hard for any of them to become major hits,” Liao said.
“The two shortcomings here are the lack of a product for the global market and a title that is cross-platform or on console,” he said. “This goes to show that Tencent Games’ innovation capability still doesn’t match its status in the market.”
