Tencent’s mobile revenues remain steady in Q3 despite China’s freeze on games licenses

Tencent'srevenue intake from mobile games grew seven per cent year-on-year to $2.8 billion for the three months ending September 30 2018, despite a freeze from the Chinese government on game licenses.

The increase was supported by 10 new titles released during the quarter that included Free Fantasy Online Mobile, MT4 and Saint Seiya.

On top of that, Honour of Kings (Arena of Valor) was singled out for continued success due to positive seasonality and new avatar personalisation items.

PUBG Mobile was also given the nod for its international performance, with data from App Annie citing that it was the second most popular mobile game globally, excluding China, by MAU.

While popular in China, it's unable to monetise there currently due to the block on game licences - in this case specifically affecting monetisation.

Fighting the freeze

Tencent’s games unit saw decreases overall, however, with revenue decreasing four per cent year-on-year to $3.7 billion for the period.

The Shenzen-based company attributed the decline to the performance of its selection of PC games, which fell 15 per cent year-on-year to $1.7 billion. 

According to Tencent, the decline was due to user’s migration to mobile games and “the high base in the same quarter last year".

Overall, the Chinese behemoth saw a 24 per cent revenue increase year-on-year to $11.7 billion. Profits, meanwhile, grew 30 per cent profit year-on-year to $3 billion.