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Tencent Games

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This article is about the Chinese division. For Tencent's international games activities, see Tencent § Video games.

Tencent Games (Chinese: 腾讯游戏; pinyin: Téngxùn Yóuxì) is the video game publishing subdivision of Tencent Interactive Entertainment,[2] the digital entertainment division of Tencent Holdings.[3] It has five internal studio groups, including TiMi Studio Group. Tencent Games was founded in 2003 to focus on online games. In 2021, it launched its international Level Infinite brand, which is stated to be operated from its Singapore office.[4]

Tencent Games
Native name
腾讯游戏
Company typeDivision
IndustryVideo games
Founded2003; 21 years ago (2003)
Headquarters
Shenzhen
,
China
Area served
Greater China
Key people
  • Mark Ren (President)
  • Bo Wang (Vice President)[1]
Brands
  • Level Infinite
  • Dreaming Plan
  • A.C.E. Program
  • Gameloop
ParentTencent Interactive Entertainment Group
Divisions
Websitewww.tencentgames.com

History

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Tencent Games published its first game QQ Tang (QQ堂) in 2004, which is based on its social media platform QQ. This was soon followed by QQ variant games such as Dungeon Fighter Online, a side-scrolling online beat 'em up game; QQ Fantasy, a 2D online game that incorporates elements from Chinese mythology; Xunxian, a 3D, online RPG; QQ Sanguo, an online casual role-playing game set during the Three Kingdoms period; QQ Huaxia, an online RPG; QQ Dancer, an online musical dancing game that offers QQ IM interactivity; QQ Nanaimo, an online game set on a desert island where players maintain houses and pets; QQ Speed, a casual online racing game; QQ R2Beat, an online in-line skating game; QQ Tang, an "advanced casual game" with gameplay derived from Chinese literature; QQ PET, and a QQ IM-based desktop virtual pet game.[5] Tencent published Chinese versions of Smilegate Entertainment's Crossfire from 2007[6] and Hi-Rez Studios' Smite from 2013.[7]

Tencent gradually turned to mobile gaming in 2013. A game center with a sizable mobile game user base was launched by Mobile QQ and WeChat in the upcoming years. In order to become the biggest online gaming firm in the world, the company concentrated on the global gaming market, investing in or aggressively purchasing foreign game companies.[8]

In 2015, Tencent Games published a multiplayer online battle arena game Honor of Kings (王者荣耀) exclusively for the Mainland China markets developed by the L1 division of TiMi Studio Group, and by 2017 was both the world's most popular and highest-grossing game of all time as well as the most downloaded app globally.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Tencent Games also released, under the brand Level Infinite, an international version of Honor of Kings named Arena of Valor in 2017.[16][17] In 2011, Tencent Games started hosting online multiplayer games such as Call of Duty Online, consisting of previous Call of Duty titles with added content, as well as the game League of Legends.[18] Tencent Games partly owns battle royale games such as Fortnite and fully own Ring of Elysium.[19]

Starting in 2016, Tencent Games developed a video gaming console dubbed TGP (Tencent Gaming Platform) Box. The TGP Box is called the Blade. It is an Intel-powered console running Windows 10 and a TGP Box mode. So far, the TGP console has imported many Tencent games, such as League of Legends, FIFA Online 3, NBA 2K, Monster Hunter, Need for Speed and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Tencent Games hopes to bring third-party developed games.[20] On 22 November 2017, Tencent Games formally entered into a strategic co-operation with PUBG Studios and obtain exclusive rights to operate Playerunknown's Battlegrounds in China.[21]

In April 2017, Tencent Games unveiled its flagship gaming platform, WeGame which will host games, content, and services from all over the world and will provide gaming info, purchases, downloads, live streaming, and community services, creating an open ecosystem for gaming. WeGame is an upgraded version of TGP (Tencent Games Platform) that already has more than 200 million active users (compared to Steam's 125 million in 2015) and over 4.5 billion downloads. It will be dedicated to both global developers and players and will assist developers who require help with translation. The gaming platform will support both Chinese and global users through a single storefront and is due to go online on 1 September 2017, Tencent Games has stated that the platform will focus on PC and standalone games and will no longer host web or mobile games, and will provide support to small and indie companies. Aside from mainstream games, the company has promised to also launch titles which include Stardew Valley, Rocket League, Portal Knights, Minecraft and Cities: Skylines, with 170 games promised by the end of 2017.[11][22][23][24]

Tencent Games plans to increase its advertising revenues through artificial intelligence and branded virtual costumes in its video games.[25]

In January 2019, Tencent prepared to release a Game of Thrones game for smartphones developed by Yoozoo Games.[26] On 18 March 2019, Tencent announced that its subsidiary, TiMi Studio Group, would develop Activision's Call of Duty: Mobile.[27] The game was released worldwide on 1 October 2019. As of 4 October 2019, the game has surpassed 35 million downloads and over $2 million in revenue.[28]

PUBG Mobile and its Mainland China version topped the global mobile games chart by revenue, raking in a combined US$232 million of sales in March 2020, as many people turned to online entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Honor of Kings is ranked as the second-highest-earning game globally, generating US$112 million in revenue.[29]

In July 2021, Tencent Games implemented a facial recognition system called "Midnight Patrol" in China to limit minors' access to games during curfew hours.[30]

In December 2021, Tencent Games launched a new game publishing brand under Level Infinite, merging the Proxima Beta video games to this brand name. The focus of the brand is marketing, events, and esports for the video game studios of the Interactive Entertainment Group division. The area served is global and includes titles from subsidiaries that belong to the Interactive Entertainment Group or have a partnership which includes the developers TiMi Studio Group, LightSpeed Studios. Sharkmob, Mighty Kingdom, Fatshark, Shengqu Games, Next Studios, The Outsiders, 10 Chambers, and Funcom as of 8 December 2021. The Initial games published under the brand include Arena of Valor created by the TiMi-J6 development division of TiMi Studio Group, Synced developed by Next Studios, and Don't Starve: Newhome developed by Shengqu Games.[31]

Divisions

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Tencent Games has the following divisions:[32][33]

Aurora Studio Group

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Launched in 2007, based in Shanghai. Games include Moonlight Blade (天涯明月刀), Iron Knight, Azure War: (蔚蓝战争) Name of the Nature, Light and Night.

LightSpeed Studios

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"LightSpeed Studios" redirects here. For Nvidia's development studio, see Nvidia Lightspeed Studios.

Launched in 2008, based in Shenzhen with the pre-fusion name Quantum Studios. The initial video games with the studio group release were QQ Huaxia & Freedom Fantasy.

In 2011, LightSpeed was founded; marking today's LightSpeed – LightSpeed & Quantum Studio Group brand name outside of Mainland China is LightSpeed Studios.

The following divisions belong to, were acquired or created within the LightSpeed Studios, and are classified as subsidiaries of LightSpeed Studios.

  • Lightspeed LA – founded in 2020: LightSpeed Studios' first studio outside of Mainland China and also its first U.S.-based studio.[34] Based in Irvine, California, and led by Steve Martin, LightSpeed LA is working on Last Sentinel.[35]
  • Uncapped Games – founded in 2021
  • S•Studio
  • Happy Studio – founded in 2014
  • TiKi Studios
  • Anyplay Studio
  • LightSpeed Tech Centre
  • Art Monkey Gang
  • Design Monkey Gang
  • Lucid Games – Acquired in 2023

Morefun Studios

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Launched in 2010, based in Shanghai. Games include: The Roco Kingdom (洛克王国手游), Naruto Online, Arena Breakout, Aceforce 2

NExT Studios

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Launched in 2017, based in Shanghai. Games include: Unheard, SYNCED: Off-Planet, Nishan Shaman[36]

TiMi Studio Group

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Main article: TiMi Studio Group

Launched in 2014, based in Shenzhen. Games include: Honor of Kings (Arena of Valor), QQ Speed, Call of Duty: Mobile, Pokémon Unite, and Delta Force.

Tencent Institute of Games

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The Tencent Institute of Games was founded in 2016 as a company initiative to nurture talent and professional development, and promote knowledge sharing in the game industry. The division head is Xia Lin (Sammi). It has incubated games including Nishan Shaman and The Everlasting Regret. It cooperates with multiple universities and set up an enterprise college cooperative education model for game talent. The annual Tencent Games Developers Conference is held by this division.[37][38][39]

List of games published under Level Infinite

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References

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  1. ^ Takahashi, Dean (2014-08-05). "How Tencent sees the worldwide opportunity in gaming investments (interview)". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 2022-06-05. Retrieved 2022-06-05.
  2. ^ "腾讯互动娱乐-腾讯互动娱乐官方网站-让想象绽放". ieg.tencent.com. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  3. ^ "Tencent 腾讯 – Products & Services". tencent.com. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  4. ^ "This is Level Infinite". Level Infinite. 2021-12-06. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  5. ^ Products and Services > Interactive Entertainment Service Archived 1 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine Tencent official Site
  6. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (2022-09-27). "Smilegate at 20: Growing beyond Crossfire, reaching beyond games". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
  7. ^ Pitcher, Jenna (22 August 2013). "Smite expands into China with Hi-Rez and Tencent deal, receive new features". Polygon.
  8. ^ Huang, Junxiong (2021-12-15). Analysis of Tencent's Successful Development Strategy. Proceedings of the 2021 3rd International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2021). Vol. 203. Atlantis Press. pp. 2513–2516. doi:10.2991/assehr.k.211209.408. ISBN 978-94-6239-483-4. S2CID 245794852.
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  10. ^ "World's top grossing mobile game debunks gender stereotype". TechNode. 3 July 2017. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Tencent's WeGame gaming platform goes online September 1st". TechNode. 18 August 2017. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
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  14. ^ "Mobile game King of Glory so popular in China, Tencent has to limit game plays". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  15. ^ Moyen, Motek (28 August 2017). "Tencent's 'Honor Of King' Will Cannibalize International Sales Of 'League Of Legends'". Seeking Alpha.
  16. ^ "Arena of Valor Revenue Clears $140 Million Outside China". sensortower.com. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  17. ^ "Tencent's Honor of Kings Led Mobile Game Revenue in 2018 with Almost $2 Billion Grossed". Sensor Tower. 10 January 2019. Archived from the original on 18 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  18. ^ "'League of Legends' is now fully owned by China's Tencent". Engadget. 17 December 2015. Archived from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  19. ^ Warren, Tom (27 June 2018). "PUBG drops Fortnite copyright lawsuit as the battle ends in a draw". The Verge. Archived from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  20. ^ Frank (16 May 2016). "Tencent Unveiled A Windows 10 Based Game Console In China". InsideGamesAsia. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  21. ^ "Tencent wins rights to officially release PUBG in China, will 'accord with socialist core values'". pcgamer. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  22. ^ "Tencent to launch global digital games platform to rival Steam, called WeGame". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  23. ^ "How Tencent's WeGame is changing to compete with Steam in China". VentureBeat. 18 May 2017. Archived from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  24. ^ "Chinese gaming giant Tencent is rebranding its digital store as 'WeGame'". pcgamer. Archived from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  25. ^ Hancock, Tom (12 September 2017). "Tencent to use AI and games to push under-developed ads business". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  26. ^ Chen, Lulu Yilun (January 17, 2019). "Game of Thrones Is Coming to Phones in China, Thanks to Tencent". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  27. ^ Machkovech, Sam (19 March 2019). "Call of Duty Mobile announced for iOS, Android, made by China's Tencent". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  28. ^ "Call of Duty: Mobile Reaches 35 Million Downloads in 3 Days". digitaltrends.com. 4 October 2019. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  29. ^ "Tencent's PUBG Mobile was the world's highest-grossing game in March amid coronavirus crisis". scmp.com. 14 April 2020. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  30. ^ Machkovech, Sam (July 7, 2021). "Dozens of Chinese phone games now require facial scans to play at night". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on July 7, 2021. Tencent, the world's largest Chinese video game publisher, has taken an extreme step to comply with its nation's rules about limiting minors' access to video games. As of this week, the publisher has added a facial recognition system, dubbed "Midnight Patrol," to over 60 of its China-specific smartphone games, and it will disable gameplay in popular titles like Honor of Kings if users either decline the facial check or fail it.
  31. ^ "Tencent Games establishes 'high-quality games brand' Level Infinite". Gematsu. 7 December 2021.
  32. ^ Chan, Khee Hoon (2022-03-02). "A closer look at Tencent, the world's biggest game company". Polygon. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  33. ^ "Tencent's five in-house game studios". flo.URI.sh. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  34. ^ Ye, Josh (2023-12-07). "Tencent reveals most ambitious game yet for consoles amid global expansion". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  35. ^ Hester, Blake. "Last Sentinel Is A New Triple-A Game From Former Rockstar Devs". Game Informer. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  36. ^ "'Nishan Shaman' – An Actually Free-To-Play Northern Chinese Folklore Rhythm Game". TouchArcade. 2018-07-23. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  37. ^ KÜTTEL, Beat (August 4, 2018). "iOS Top 5: Diese iPhone- & iPad-Games solltet ihr euch anschauen". games.ch (in German). Archived from the original on September 4, 2018. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  38. ^ "Tencent Institute of Games Supports the Sustainable Development of the Games Industry". tencent.com. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  39. ^ "清华大学深圳国际研究生院与腾讯签署战略合作协议-清华大学". tsinghua.edu.cn. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
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