Tencent Is Bigger Than EA, Microsoft, and Activision

Fanghawk

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Tencent Is Bigger Than EA, Microsoft, and Activision



Tencent, the China-based publisher that owns League of Legends, is now considered the largest gaming company in terms of worldwide revenue.

Off the top of your head, which gaming company would you say is the biggest worldwide? Some might respond with manufacturers like Sony or Microsoft, while others would point to games publishers like Electronic Arts and Activision. According to a new market report, however, all of the above are being outperformed by Chinese investment holding company Tencent. Known largely in the West for its ownership of League of Legends developer Riot Games, Tencent experienced a 45 percent annual growth rate in 2013, slipping past Microsoft and obtaining an estimated $5.3 billion in revenue.

While Tencent's rise is based on current estimates, the figures are probably accurate considering the popularity of video games in China, especially among the PC market. It's also worth noting that compared to other companies that might see profit dips until a major release hits the market, Tencent saw steady growth during each financial quarter. The gaming company also has shares <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122851-Tencent-Reveals-40-Percent-Interest-in-Epic-Games>in Epic Games and Activision, and publishes <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130153-Call-of-Duty-Online-Has-Been-Overrun-by-Robot-Zombies>the free-to-play Call of Duty: Online.

"Tencent has shown very consistent quarterly revenue growth for a few years in a row, due to its focus on online free-to-play games and, more recently, mobile games," Newzoo chief executive Peter Warman said. "It is much less dependent on individual blockbuster releases than the traditional publishers and also on sales during the key Christmas holiday period. At the same time, new opportunities arise in China for Western IP as the market opens up slightly and mobile devices provide a new potential entry point."

Tencent's top placement isn't the only interesting detail of the report; for example, Apple is showing impressive growth, while Google's revenue expanded by 250%. That being said, the fact that Tencent was able to muscle past Microsoft, Activision, Sony, and EA means the company is worth keeping an eye on in 2014.

VentureBeat

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Agayek

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Oct 23, 2008
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Is that... that's a Gentleman Cho'gath! And a Corporate Mundo!

I tip my hat to you, good sir. Excellent choice in relevant images.
 

Fappy

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Agayek said:
Is that... that's a Gentleman Cho'gath! And a Corporate Mundo!

I tip my hat to you, good sir. Excellent choice in relevant images.
I didn't even really notice that! Haha, that's awesome. Good show! XD
 

DaViller

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Isn´t tencent this kinda evil empire that copys software and then straight up sues the original creators(while being mostly succesfull at that)?

I know that they copy games but im not sure if the sueing part is true.
 

synobal

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Tecent is an investment and holding company though, it isn't like Activision EA.

It's more fair to compare them to google or microsoft but even so I question that. It just isn't a good comparison.
 

CriticalMiss

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Hopefully they won't do an EA and start buying up small successful studios, fucking them up with corporate meddling and then closing them.
 

Bke

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This report bodes ill for the AAA scene. Watch as EA and activision/blizzard attempt to ape Tecent's success and abandon huge swathes of the gaming market in the process. Not that they aren't already trying; just this report will add fuel to the fire, as it were.
 

Dr.Awkward

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Careful Tencent, all that bragging may cause a very audible thud. Bigger doesn't mean better every time...
 

Zero Serenity

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This article is factually wrong. Microsoft's 2013 revenue was $77.85 billion according to their own annual report. EA? 3.8 Billion. Activision Blizzard? 4.6 Billion.

Check your facts before you publish.
 

Eclectic Dreck

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Zero Serenity said:
This article is factually wrong. Microsoft's 2013 revenue was $77.85 billion according to their own annual report. EA? 3.8 Billion. Activision Blizzard? 4.6 Billion.

Check your facts before you publish.
Presumably that's Microsoft's Entertainment division rather than the entire corporation.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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Jul 15, 2013
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Then an obvious metamorphasis of irony appears from the company's name.

I certainly hope this doesnt inspire a sudden focus on F2p games for EA and the rest (though EA are the more desperate). Can we not just sweep this news under the carpet to avoid their legion-esque beady eyes falling upon it?
 

weirdee

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Apr 11, 2011
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I still chuckle at that guy on the Stomp Games message board who thought that Tencent shut down Robot Rising because they couldn't afford to run the servers. Ah, the folly of internet discussions.
 

Lyri

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heroicbob said:
so if the guys who own riot games are in china how did 300 heroes get made?
Could you rephrase that?

CriticalMiss said:
Hopefully they won't do an EA and start buying up small successful studios, fucking them up with corporate meddling and then closing them.
That won't happen.

Riot sold to Tencent to get into the Chinese game market, which is where Tencent are based. They're not interested in Western Gaming.
Riot still has control over what happens in their game, Tencent just dumped lots of cash into them and continue to do so.
 

Xeorm

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Wouldn't a more valid comparison to Tencent be something like Vivendi? Seems like they'd be closer in what they are, and Vivendi still blows them out of the water. Really, it seems more like a propaganda piece than it is actual news.

Really bad news piece I think.
 

dyre

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Xeorm said:
Wouldn't a more valid comparison to Tencent be something like Vivendi? Seems like they'd be closer in what they are, and Vivendi still blows them out of the water. Really, it seems more like a propaganda piece than it is actual news.

Really bad news piece I think.
Yeah, the methodology is vague here; the original source (keep in mind, Escapist doesn't do original journalism; its job is simply to collect and rehash news relevant to its community's interests) seems to indicate that it's based on gaming related revenue. Even if they're right though, it's a little simplistic to use revenue as the only metric to determine a game company's size (ignoring value of assets, market value, etc).

On another note, it's slightly amusing that the "market research" firm seems to think that a 48 page report on what looks to be a copy-paste job of a bunch of game companies' publicly available financial statements is worth charging 1490 Euros for :p
 

Scorched_Cascade

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Sep 26, 2008
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Slightly off topic but Tencent also publish Smite, in regions other than NA and europe, as of August last year

http://www2.hirezstudios.com/smite/latest-news/view/smite-blog/2013/08/21/tencent-hirez

The deal with Tencent is why they've been revising the Chinese Pantheon gods, they're making them more accurate to their lore.

I guess they like MOBAs, kinda surprised it isn't a conflict of interest for them.