Cover-Credits:
Mobile gaming giant Tencent reported an annual revenue of $32.94 Billion USD for 2021. The gaming company saw a 9.9% year-over-year revenue increase last year thanks to titles like Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars and PUBG Mobile. The revenue figure posted by the company puts Tencent ahead of its counterparts in the gaming industry including Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.
Tencent is currently the biggest gaming company in the world by revenue
Here are the reported annual revenues by the four biggest gaming companies in the world:
Tencent: $32.94 billion USD
Sony: $24.87 billion USD
Microsoft: $16.28 billion USD
Nintendo: 15.3 billion USD
While Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are the three biggest names in the console and PC gaming market, adding mobile gaming to the mix makes Tencent the number one company in the world in terms of revenue. According to Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad, Valorant was mentioned as a key contributor to Tencent’s success.
Tencent owns Riot Games, which is the publisher behind titles like League of Legends and Valorant. Riot expanded to the traditional media industry this year by releasing Arcane, its first TV show on Netflix, which garnered great reviews from fans and critics alike.
Tencent’s revenue from internally developed titles and games from acquired or partnered studios increased to 26% of the company’s total revenue. Tencent seeks to grow the figure to 50% in the future.
Despite the impressive numbers, Tencent’s revenue growth in 2021 was the weakest since the company went public in 2004. Analysts at CNBC stated that Tencent underperformed this year which was driven by China’s regulatory crackdowns in 2021.
The company told CNBC, “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.” The company expects to “fully digest” the regulatory crackdowns and minor protection measures the Chinese government has implemented and adjust its corporate strategies accordingly.
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