Tencent Holdings, China’s largest tech company by market value, reported a 13% increase in revenue for the first quarter on Wednesday, mainly due to growth in its gaming business.
Tencent, the world’s largest video game company and the operator of WeChat, reported revenue of 180 billion yuan ($24.97 billion) for the first quarter. This was for the period ending on March 31.
The results were higher than the 174.6 billion yuan average that analysts had predicted.
The net profit for the quarter was 47.8 billion yuan, which was lower than the 52.2 billion yuan that analysts had expected.
The revenue growth was mainly driven by strong performance in the gaming business. The company benefited from relaxed regulations in China’s gaming sector after strict rules in the past few years.
Domestic gaming revenue increased by 24% to 42.9 billion yuan in the quarter, while international gaming revenue grew by 23% to 16.6 billion yuan.
The growth was driven by key games like “Dungeon & Fighter Mobile,” launched in May 2024, and the shooting game “Delta Force,” released in September.
Tencent’s financial report showed that popular games like “Honor of Kings” and “Crossfire Mobile” reached record-high revenue during the peak gaming season in the first quarter. The company’s marketing services revenue also grew by 20% compared to last year, reaching 31.9 billion yuan. This growth was mainly driven by high demand from advertisers for ads on video accounts, mini-programs, and WeChat search, thanks to more user engagement, AI improvements to the advertising platform, and better integration with WeChat’s transaction system.
WeChat’s monthly active users reached 140.2 million, a slight increase of 3% compared to last year.
The WeChat ecosystem continues to grow in many areas, including social features, payments, and mini-games, all showing steady progress. Additionally, other in-game revenue from virtual items and subscriptions has led to continued growth in paid memberships.
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