Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent has been recognized as the largest video game company worldwide in 2018, according to rankings released by video game and e-sports analytics company Newzoo.
Tencent generated a revenue of USD 19.7 billion from gaming-related business, followed by Sony with USD 14.2 billion and Microsoft with USD 9.8 billion.
The company’s gaming revenue represented a year-on-year increase of 9%, dragged down by Chinese authorities’ nine-month pause in granting monetization licenses to video game publishers in the country. Sony and Microsoft saw a year-on-year growth rate of 42% and 32%, respectively, in 2018.
Tencent has earned more than USD 320 million from its hit game PUBG Mobile outside China so far, but has yet to get a license to monetize the popular battle royale game domestically. One of the company’s most popular games is Honor of Kings, which according to Sensor Tower pulled in USD 1.93 billion through Apple’s App Store and Google Play in 2018, up 19.88% compared to the previous year.
Behind Sony and Microsoft, Apple ranked fourth with USD 9.5 billion, while Google ranked sixth with USD 6.5 billion.
NetEase, another Chinese game company that was among the top-earning video game publishers, ranked seventh with USD 6.2 billion.
Contact the writer at jingli@kr-asia.com.