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Tencent to close Steam-like mobile game portal as market prospects dim under tight regulation

  • The app version of WeGame will no longer be available for download from July 15, and will cease operating in early September
  • WeGame, originally designed to rival the world’s largest online game platform Steam, has largely failed to live up to its ambitions

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Tencent’s WeGame portal has announced its impending closure in September. Photo: Reuters
Ann Cao

The mobile version of WeGame, the video game portal that was Tencent Holdings’ answer to Steam, will cease operations in two months, in a fresh sign that business prospects in the world’s largest gaming market have become bleaker under Beijing’s tightened scrutiny.

The WeGame app, as well as its in-app version on Tencent’s super app WeChat, will stop its service starting from September 8 because of “changes in business development strategy”, the app’s operation team said in a notice issued on Tuesday.

WeGame stopped accepting new user registrations on Tuesday, and people will no longer be able to download the app from July 15, according to the notice.

WeGame was once regarded as Tencent’s answer to Steam, the world’s largest online game portal. Photo: Shutterstock
WeGame was once regarded as Tencent’s answer to Steam, the world’s largest online game portal. Photo: Shutterstock
The decision comes a month after Tencent pulled the plug on its Twitch-like game streaming site Penguin Esports, as the world’s largest video gaming company by revenue moves to streamline operations in a slowing and increasingly competitive market.

Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Launched in 2017 on mobile and PC as a rebranded version of Tencent Game Platform, the company’s original game distribution site, WeGame was originally designed as a game portal that hosts video games and other related content, with Steam – the world’s largest video game platform – being its main rival.

However, WeGame has largely failed to live up to its ambitions, now functioning more often as a place for gamers to look up records of their scores and performances in Tencent-distributed games, such as League of Legends and its spin-off auto battler game Teamflight Tactics.

Some of the app’s functions will be transferred to the PC version of WeGame, which will remain operational, the team said.

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