On March 23, 2022, Tencent released its 2021 fourth quarter financial report and 2021 annual financial report.
According to the financial report, the revenue in the Q4 quarter reached 144.2 billion yuan, an increase of 8% year-on-year; the net profit for the full year of 2021 was 224.82 billion yuan, exceeding expectations. 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 more than 30% of the company's game business revenue.
"Going to sea" has achieved eye-catching results, and Tencent Games has "absorbed gold" globally
From the data point of view, Tencent has been committed to making games "go global" over the years, and has become a benchmark enterprise for domestic self-developed games to "go to sea".
In fact, around 2005, many well-known domestic terminal tours came from South Korea, the United States and other places, such as "World of Warcraft", "Bubble Hall" and so on. At that time, domestic game companies were keen to "represent" foreign games.
However, in the era of end games, companies like Tencent and NetEase continue to exert efforts in art design, technology, team design, IP, etc., and continuously improve the level of self-developed games. More than ten years later, the efforts of domestic games have finally "blossomed".
Tencent's "Glory of Kings" is quite popular abroad. In the game, there are "Overlord Farewell" created for Xiang Yuyuji, and the skin of Zhen Ji created according to the Kunqu opera "Peony Pavilion", so that overseas players can understand traditional culture through the game. Fans of "Glory of Kings" on INS always get a lot of likes every time they post new skins such as Wang Zhaojun and Sable Cicada.
On March 23, the day Tencent released its earnings report, Sensor Tower released the february global top mobile game revenue ranking. Tencent's "Glory of Kings" attracted $225 million in the global App Store and Google Play, ranking first in the global mobile game best-seller list. In addition, Tencent's PUBG Mobile (which merged peace elite revenue) ranked second on the list with $205 million in revenue.
The financial report also disclosed the results of Tencent's game "going to sea". In terms of international mobile games, five of the top ten games with daily active accounts are developed and operated by Tencent.
Level Infinite provides a new impetus for domestic games to go to sea
According to the financial report, the "League of Legends" IP derivative animation "Battle of Two Cities" topped the Netflix watch time list. The newly launched overseas game brand Level Infinite, overseas studios and cooperative brands are also continuing to export new works of various genres.
What does the establishment of Level Infinite mean for Tencent?
To discuss the pain points of the current global operation of games, the main difficulties are in cross-language, cross-cultural, cross-regional, and user habits in different countries and different platform games have significant differences. The establishment of Level Infinite can help solve this pain point, help Tencent's games achieve better "internationalization", and bring high-quality game experience to overseas players.
Specifically, Level Infinite's business mainly includes two aspects: helping domestic products go global, and providing support and services for overseas product distribution. The establishment of this brand is not only a major benefit to Tencent's game internationalization business, but also provides a methodological reference for the industry to "go to sea".
At present, the first games announced by Level Infinite include: "Glory of Kings International Edition", "Famine: New Home" mobile game, "Edge of Rebirth", "Warhammer: Plague 2", "Warhammer 40K: Dark Tide", "Vampire: Night Hunt - Blood Hunt", "GTFO", "Metal: Hell Singer" and tencent Games' Tianmei Studio Group, Photon Studio Group and other third-party studio masterpieces. In addition, Level Infinite also provides services ranging from technology empowerment to R&D support for Tencent's overseas studios.
In the final analysis, for today's game manufacturers, business globalization does not only mean an increase in revenue methods, but also becomes the only way for the world's top game manufacturers. At a time when the game market is changing rapidly, only by introducing the right methodology and timely layout can we really win in the moment.