Garena has more users despite gaming falling from Covid peak

Sea Group said that the performance of its gaming division, Garena, has improved over the past quarter, even though the gaming market, which saw a huge upsurge in users during the pandemic, is normalizing from a pandemic peak.

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The company added that its latest quarterly results, where its growth in active and paying users slowed down, reflect post-Covid normalization in gaming activity. However, Sea maintained that Garena’s growth is continuing and sustaining itself.

“Going forward, we’re looking to sustain our existing strong user base in the existing markets and explore new growth opportunities in markets that we haven’t deeply penetrated, especially with the launch of Free Fire Max (the premium version of Free Fire),” the company said in its earnings call.

Garena will also focus on building a games pipeline based on the “most promising and valuable long-term trends” in the market. The gaming unit has stepped up investments and partnerships with game studios globally, and it has also seen more studios that are interested to partner with it.

Sea has also signaled the expansion of Shopee, its ecommerce unit, into more markets with underserved buyers and sellers. Shopee, the company’s largest contributor to its topline, has recently been testing waters in Poland, France, Spain, and India.

That said, Shopee will maintain its “core focus” on sustainable growth in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Brazil.

Sea noted that Shopee’s adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) loss per order improved on a year-on-year and a quarter-on-quarter basis in Southeast Asia and Taiwan combined, as well as in the ecommerce unit’s other markets.

Meanwhile, Sea has emphasized its efforts in helping small businesses. In Indonesia, Shopee has opened Shopee Export MSME campuses in Solo and Bandung, which give local firms the resources and training they need to sell online.

The company has also partnered with the Malaysian government to use the country’s rural internet centers to offer free ecommerce training to local entrepreneurs. In Brazil, over one million local sellers have registered with Shopee since mid-2020.

See also: Sea Group’s financial health in 9 charts