The phrase "the whole world speaks Chinese" is becoming a reality, as a way of cultural export, Chinese games are spreading Chinese stories to all parts of the world!
In the past, foreign games made Chinese money, but now, Chinese games have gone abroad to earn money from foreigners. On March 23, 2022, Tencent announced its fourth quarter and annual financial report for 2021, of which Tencent's game revenue in the international market in the fourth quarter of 2021 reached 13.2 billion yuan, an increase of 34% year-on-year, accounting for 30.8% of the company's game business revenue.
In the whole of 2021, Tencent's game revenue in the international market reached 45.5 billion yuan
Tencent's financial report shows that in the whole year of 2021, Tencent's game revenue in the international market reached 45.5 billion yuan, an increase of 31% year-on-year. Among them, Tencent's game revenue in the international market in the fourth quarter of 2021 reached 13.2 billion yuan, an increase of 34% year-on-year, accounting for 30.8% of the company's game business revenue.
From the financial report data, Tencent's game revenue in the international market showed an accelerating trend: the growth rate of this sector was 25% in Q3 last year, and in the fourth quarter, the growth rate was further increased to 34%, reflecting that Tencent's game revenue in the international market is entering the fast lane.
In addition, the proportion of international market revenue in Tencent Games' overall revenue has also further increased, from 25% in Q3 last year to 30.8% in Q4, and the revenue structure of Tencent Games is more diversified and healthy.
In terms of global mobile games, among the top ten mobile games ranked by the number of daily active accounts, ten products developed and operated by Tencent account for 5. The eye-catching performance of the international business has made it another "weapon" to drive the growth of Tencent's game business.
The growth of Tencent's overseas game revenue is mainly due to the strong performance of games such as PUBG Mobile, Valorant, Clash Royale, and Brawl of the Wilds.
How popular are Tencent games overseas? The anime "League of Legends: Battle of Two Cities", adapted from the "League of Legends" game, has caused a sensation in the global market, with IMDB ratings of 9.2, 96 points on Rotten Tomatoes on the first day, and 9.2 points on Douban, telling its quality and also carrying the recognition of users.
According to the film streaming platform Netflix, "League of Legends: Battle of Two Cities" topped the Netflix English TV watch time list a week after its release, and the animation recently won nine awards at the 49th Annie Awards for Best TV/Streaming Animation, Best Art Direction, and Best Character Animation.
For example, on March 10, APEXM opened a soft launch in 10 overseas regions such as Southeast Asia, Australia, Canada, and Argentina, and maintained its consistent excellent performance, ranking first in the iOS free list in 9 regions except Argentina, and landing in the top ten of the best-seller list in mexico, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
To earn money from foreigners, Tencent Games went to sea to explore the way for Chinese games
At the same time, in order to establish local distribution and operation capabilities, Tencent also launched a new overseas brand Level Infinite in December 2021 to support the company's business development in multiple regions. This has attracted the attention of its peers around the world. The emergence of this brand, which aims to bring high-quality gaming experiences to overseas players, marks the next important stage of development of Tencent's game globalization business.
Level Infinite's business mainly includes two aspects: helping domestic products go global, and providing support and services for overseas product distribution. The former helps excellent domestic games set up a springboard to the global market, while the latter helps Chinese game manufacturers represented by Tencent to strengthen their voice in the international market.
In terms of helping domestic games go global, as early as the initial official announcement stage, the starting list announced by Level Infinite included many domestic games, including "Edge of Rebirth" developed by Tencent's NEXT Studios, as well as new works by Photon Studio and Tianmei Studio Group that have not yet been fully disclosed. The "Glory of Kings International Edition", which has attracted the attention of overseas players, is also on the list.
In addition to domestic games, overseas games Tencent has not fallen, not only won a number of blockbuster products including Fatshark's "Warhammer 40K: Dark Tide" and "Warhammer: Plague of the End times 2", Sharkmob's "Vampire: Escape Blood Clan - Blood Hunt", The Outsiders " Heavy Metal: Hell Singer", 10 Chambers "GTFO" and many other blockbuster products, but also won the former "Sword Spirit" lord Mei Hengtai's two-dimensional new game "Victory Goddess: Nikke" in March this year. Distribution agent in Japan and Korea.
In a sense, the establishment of Tencent Games' global business is an act of "road building", which is a methodological exploration of the global transformation of Chinese game manufacturers, and has high industry reference value. With the full development of Level Infinite's business, this value will be more obvious.
This global, all-category distribution strategy of "putting eggs in different baskets" can not only help Tencent maintain the growth of its game business and transform its revenue structure, so as to build a more balanced development model, but also respond to the call of relevant departments to encourage domestic games to go abroad, and use its own technology and influence to help domestic games better participate in publishing and contact the local market.
Next, how Tencent plays a good role in the positioning of the "connector" and "bridgehead" of the sea, and what kind of changes it will bring to the global game landscape, is another thing worth paying attention to.