Tencent pockets half the cash in China’s gaming market

Tencent, China’s social media and gaming titan, is riding high.

Aside from last month topping a half-trillion-dollar valuation for the first time, it has now hit a new milestone – Tencent accounts for a record half of the revenue in China’s gaming market, according to a Beijing-based research firm.

GIF by Tech in Asia, from video by Tencent Games.

Tencent, maker of WeChat, is being boosted by its smash-hit mobile game Honor of Kings, with over 80 million Chinese players each day making it the planet’s highest grossing game. PC gaming, still huge in China and other parts of East Asia, is a good cash cow thanks to titles like Crossfire.

China’s online gaming market was worth US$9.6 billion from July to September, up 42 percent from the previous year, with Tencent pocketing 51.6 percent of it. Nearest rival Netease got 13.5 percent. It indicates that China’s gaming market “is increasingly mature, formal, and stable,” said iResearch yesterday when it released the data. Mobile gaming now accounts for a record 66 percent of revenue.

In its latest earnings report, Tencent saw rising revenues for its mobile and PC games, totaling US$5 billion for the three months from July to September.

Tencent is now looking to launch Honor of Kings in the US early next year.

Converted from Chinese yuan. Rate: US$1 = RMB 6.62.