Tencent’s Q2 profit jumps 70 per cent as more gamers play on smartphones than computers
Honour of Kings, Tencent’s multiplayer, online battle arena game, is wildly popular. It boosts 200 million users, of which 80 million, equivalent to Germany’s population, play the game everyday.
Tencent Holdings has reported a 70 per cent jump in its second-quarter profit, as its wildly popular made-for-smartphone games including Honour of Kings helped it record more revenue from mobile devices than computers for the first time.
Net income jumped to 18.2 billion yuan, or 1.94 yuan per share, beating the consensus estimate in a Bloomberg poll by 35 per cent. Sales soared 59 per cent to 56.6 billion yuan (US$8.45 billion) for the three months ended June 30, according to a statement.
Tencent’s stellar earnings underscores how the Shenzhen-based company, already the operator of China’s largest social networking tool, is earning dividends from the ubiquity of mobile internet from the country’s almost 700 million smartphone users.
Game revenue from smartphones jumped 54 per cent to 14.8 billion yuan during the quarter, from last year, outpacing the 29 per cent growth in personal computer game sales at 13.6 billion yuan, Tencent said.
“Revenue growth in smartphone games was driven by existing titles such as Honour of Kings ... and new titles such as the China version of Contra Return, Dragon Nest Mobile and Legacy TLBB Mobile,” Tencent said.
Honour of Kings, Tencent’s multiplayer, online battle arena game, is wildly popular. It boosts 200 million users, of which 80 million, equivalent to Germany’s population, play the game everyday.
