Tencent’s video game publishing division is turning overseas as the company fails to cash in on PUBG Mobile—the phone- and tablet-based version of the last-man-standing shooter game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds—due to China’s regulatory restriction.
The Chinese gaming industry leader has booked RMB 77.8 billion (US$11.6 million) in revenue from video games, marking growth by 24% compared to the previous year despite a nine-month freeze on gaming monetisation license approvals, according to Tencent’s annual report published yesterday.
Though it has obtained approval to monetise eight games since the Chinese industry regulator resumed the application process last December, Tencent is still a long way from being able to profit from its battle royale hit PUBG Mobile, as the game hasn’t been shown a green light.
“In the past year, many new games couldn’t go online… we have a very popular chiji youxi (battle royale game) that failed to monetise,” Tencent president Martin Lau admitted on Thursday in Hong Kong, adding that the company sees great opportunities in the overseas market.
Tencent said PUBG Mobile was “the most popular game globally by MAUs [monthly active users]” last year.
The success of PUBG Mobile is “a relatively good start” and the company will put more resources in its overseas gaming market, Lau said.
Write to Luna Lin at lunalin@kr-asia.com