On Wednesday, Tencent released its 2024 annual financial results, declaring 14 games to be “evergreen games” generating over four billion yuan ($550 million) annually with an average of five million daily active users per quarter or PC games exceeding two million daily active users.
Why it matters: Tencent’s self-reported success at generating revenue from “evergreen games” suggests sustained player engagement but also reflects a reliance on existing titles, with few new original IPs. Tencent is adept at acquiring games and adapting them to mobile, but its development of original titles has yet to produce standout examples.
Details: In 2024, Tencent’s online gaming revenue grew 9.9% year-on-year to RMB 197.7 billion ($27.34 billion), according to the annual report.
- Domestic gaming market revenue grew 10% year-on-year to RMB 139.7 billion ($19.32 billion), while international market revenue rose 9% year-on-year to RMB 58 billion ($8.02 billion).
- Although Tencent did not directly name the titles, based on market performance, they likely comprise Honor of Kings, Call of Duty: Mobile, VALORANT, Golden Spatula, Game for Peace, Light and Night, Naruto Mobile, Dungeon & Fighter Mobile, Clash Royale, Brawl Stars, and Squad Busters. These games cover a variety of genres, including shooting, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), role-playing, card strategy, female-targeted romance, and casual games.
- Supercell, a Tencent subsidiary based in Finland and best known for developing mobile games such as Clash Royale, Brawl Stars, and Squad Busters, saw a surge in popularity in 2024. Supercell’s 2024 revenue reached 2.8 billion euros, up 77% year-on-year, while its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) rose 78% to 876 million euros.
Context: In 2022, Tencent acquired the Elden Ring IP license from FromSoftware’s parent company, Kadokawa Corporation. The company plans to develop a mobile version using a “free-to-play + in-app purchases” model. However, as the original is a one-time-pay single-player game, this approach may create design challenges due to conflicts with the core gaming experience.
- On March 4, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki was reportedly spotted visiting Tencent’s Shenzhen headquarters, sparking speculation that the project may have entered a substantive development phase. As of now, neither Tencent nor FromSoftware have commented on the project’s progress.
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