Tencent makes a record number of gaming investment in June - PingWest

Tencent makes a record number of gaming investment in June

Chinese social network and online gaming giant Tencent Holdings made a record number of gaming investment in June as it further expands its gaming portfolio to fend off competition from Tiktok maker ByteDance.

Detail: According to report from game research firm Niko Partners, Tencent had invested in 62 gaming companies in June, which is twice than the number of same periods of 2020.

Shenzhen-based Tencent is best known as the operator of WeChat, a super messaging app with 963 million users, but Tencent has also built an entertainment empire encompassing games, music, film, online novel and television shows.

Tencent expands its portfolio through aggressive investments.

According to Niko Partners, Tencent had invested in 31 deals related to the game industry in 2020, which is three times more than the number of deal it made in 2019.

The biggest investment Tencent made in 2020 was the USD1.5 billion acquisition of Leyou Technologies, the operator of Splash Damage and Warframe developer Digital Extremes.   

In the gaming sector, some of Tencent’s most notable investment includes the acquisition of League of Legends maker Riot Games and acquiring nearly half of Fortnite maker Epic Games.

Context: “Tencent has faced notable competition from tech giants such as Alibaba and ByteDance over the past year,” said Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners.

ByteDance, the parent company of hugely popular app Douyin and TikTok, has made aggressive expansion into gaming this year.

In February, ByteDance has launched has launched a brand and official website for its gaming unit Nuverse Games. Nuverse has launched first batch of games in China, including Rules of Survival, Blades of the Guardians, Fairy Cats; Miracle Love, Burning Streetball, Terminal Battleground All Star Fight, Portal Man and Naruto; Slugfest.

The Beijing-based Douyin operator has acquired at least eight gaming companies so far this year, including Moonton Technology, the maker of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

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