Tencent looks overseas for video gaming growth as home market cools under tech crackdown
- The Chinese tech giant has highlighted the theme of overseas expansion and invited more foreign speakers to its annual game developers conference
- The Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia represent some of the fastest-growing markets for Tencent Games, says one executive
Tencent Holdings, the Chinese technology giant that operates the world’s largest video gaming business by revenue, is pivoting overseas, as the home market cools under strict regulations.
During the four-day Tencent Game Developers Conference that kicked off on Sunday, the Shenzhen-based company has highlighted expansion opportunities abroad for its in-house titles, as well as those from other Chinese developers.
Chinese games have high growth potential in several emerging markets, including the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia, Xia Lin, vice-president of Tencent Games, said at a keynote speech.
The sheer number of users and game downloads in those geographical areas have “far exceeded the scale of the Chinese market”, Xia said. “These regions are experiencing growth opportunities similar to what we saw from 2012 to 2015 [in the home market].”
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Tencent has increased the number of conference sessions dedicated to the theme of overseas expansion from just one last year to four this year, featuring developers behind some of the firm’s biggest mobile hits, including PUBG Mobile and Call of Duty: Mobile.
