Tencent, one of the largest media companies in the world, reported its revenue from gaming-related ventures grew 9.9 percent year-over-year in 2021, jumping to $32.94 billion in total revenue.
This growth, as usual, was primarily fueled by the company’s mobile game offerings, which include PUBG Mobile, Brawl Stars, and Clash of Clans. And in terms of total revenue, Tencent surpasses Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, which reported $24.9, $16.3, and $15.3 billion, respectively.
Additionally, Tencent mentioned VALORANT as a key contributor, as the holdings company does own developer Riot Games. League of Legends was also listed as a top-three PC game by monthly average users. Tencent also said there are continued plans to expand the franchise through new games, media like Arcane, and esports.
As noted by Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad, Tencent’s overseas game revenue from internally developer titles and games from acquired or partnered studios increased to 26 percent of its total revenue in 2021. The company aims to grow that to 50 percent as it continues to expand.
Even with these numbers, Tencent’s overall revenue of $22.62 billion for Q4 2021, which is the company’s least amount of revenue growth since the company went public in 2004, according to CNBC. This resulted in an underperforming year according to analysts, largely brought on by China’s regulatory crackdown on gaming, education, and other areas throughout 2021.
“2021 was a challenging year, in which we embraced changes and implemented certain measures that reinforced the company’s long-term sustainability, but had the effect of slowing our revenue growth,” Tencent said in a statement provided to CNBC.
That same statement also noted that Tencent expects to “fully digest the impact of minor protection measures” in the second half of 2022. More updates on regulations and how companies like Tencent will work to incorporate business strategies around them will be shared as changes are needed.
