On January 29, Tencent Holdings held its 2023 annual company meeting.。At the meeting, Ma Huateng, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, reviewed the development of Tencent's various businesses over the past year and proposed plans for the future。Ma Huateng said that the game is Tencent's ace business, the game is actually the company's biggest hope for the internationalization of the sea。

"In the past few years, we have played a certain advantage and established a reputation in the mobile game research and development, network operation and operation of large overseas IP game companies.。We want to be thorough and solid in software and game research and development, rather than hostile to other game companies or hardware manufacturers from a deep perspective, and more importantly, to identify and focus on our main business (software and game research and development) so that we have a better chance of winning.。"Ma Huateng said。

"After the wave" hit: the old game manufacturers multi-pressure

Over the past year, Tencent has been under pressure from all sides: the new generation of game companies emerge in an endless stream, from the gameplay category to the content category of the shift so that Tencent temporarily confused, coupled with the friends continue to launch new products at the same time, Tencent also produces new products, but seems to have little effect.。

In 2023, the game market suddenly boils, companies are pouring into this arena - NetEase launched a casual party game "Egg Party," Miha Tour with "Collapse: Star Dome Railway" in the secondary track continued to make efforts, and so on.。

According to a data report released by Sensor Tower, "Egg Party" has maintained the second place in the list of active users of iOS mobile games in China for several months, while "Collapse: Star Dome Railway" has entered the top ten monthly revenue lists of global popular mobile games several times.。The MOBA (Multiplayer Online Tactical Competition) and shooting categories in which Tencent specializes in multiplayer games "King of Glory" and "Peace Elite" have a huge player base, so they managed to retain their position as the revenue champion of mobile game publishers at the end of the year.。

However, Tencent's two aforementioned trump cards were launched in 2015 and 2019, both of which are at risk of aging, so the question of whether to launch a new product or enter a new track such as the second dimension is facing Tencent's future.。At the end of 2023, Tencent's "Yuan Dream Star" was officially launched, marking the same type of "Egg Party" but unfortunately failed to match.。

Tencent executives: hold the basic plate, do not advance or retreat

Ma Huateng said that games have always been Tencent's trump card business, and industry giants can not lie on the credit book of success, beware of not advancing or retreating。According to the financial report, Tencent's game business performance picked up in the third quarter, with overall revenue reaching 46 billion yuan, up 7% year-on-year.。Among them, local market revenue reached 32.7 billion yuan, up 5% year-on-year; overseas market revenue reached 13.3 billion yuan, up 14% year-on-year.。

Previously, Tencent seems to have decided to swing into vertical games。In January 2024, Tencent's "Bamboo Shoots Project" was launched, aiming at self-research projects with a total R & D cost of less than 300 million yuan, aiming to expand R & D resources for the incubation of new opportunities, new gameplay and vertical games under the fierce competition of popular popular games, so that small teams can make the games they understand more transparent and solid.。

Ren Yuxin, chief operating officer of Tencent and president of the Interactive Entertainment Business Group (IEG), believes that in the current games, competitive games still have considerable user stickiness.。"This is our basic disk, to keep the basic disk, can not be shaken by some of the current hot MMO (massively multiplayer online games), secondary。"

And just entered the battlefield "Yuan Dream Star" although the effect is not obvious, but it is not only a game for Tencent, but also because of its social component has become the company's "base camp," as a starting point to achieve business interconnection, to explore the future development of the road。

Going to sea becomes Tencent's "only" way out for internationalization？

After the slowdown in domestic growth, overseas markets have become a must for domestic game manufacturers, but from the perspective of the global game market, the challenges will intensify.。According to statistics, in 2023 the global game industry has more than 10,000 people were laid off, and in 2024 began less than a month, the industry has laid off about 5,600 people, recently, Microsoft's Activision Blizzard, Tencent's fist game have spread the news of layoffs。

According to the "2023 China Game Going to Sea Research Report" jointly prepared by the Game Working Committee of the China Music Association and Gamma Data (CNG), the global game market will be 11,773 in 2023..7.9 billion yuan, up 6% year-on-year, better than a decline of nearly 7% in 2022.。During the period, in 2023, domestic games going out to sea were affected by the sluggish global game growth rate and declined year-on-year, with actual sales revenue of Chinese self-developed games in overseas markets of 163.$6.6 billion, down 5.65%, the scale of the sea for two consecutive years of contraction。

It is reported that the sea track competition is fierce, traffic acquisition costs rise, the lack of localization of talent is a major challenge to the sea business.。Therefore, some analysts believe that "category selection" and "long-term operation" may become the key words of the game in 2024.。For game companies, by gaining an in-depth understanding of player interests and segmenting overseas markets from user profiles, it is expected to further achieve long-term user retention and drive related companies to achieve incremental performance in 2024.。Thus, Tencent's current plan to go to sea may bring a good opportunity for the veteran gaming giant to break the game.。