Over the past few years, the Chinese Tencent has established itself as a serious player in the video game industry. And not just a serious, in their own market, the company is the largest in the industry. All this was made possible also thanks to a fairly aggressive policy and in terms of mergers and acquisitions.
Tencent literally buys developers around the world that make for her masterpieces, remaining in the top of sales and popularity for several years in a row. And it seems that the Chinese are not going to turn away from the intended path.
In order to better understand the company’s strategy and plans for the future, look at the basic purchase Tencent recently. In early 2011, Tencent bought a controlling stake in Riot Games shares. Later, the company reported that the transaction was approximately $ 231 million. In December 2015 the American developer Tencent sold the remaining shares.
Main Games is the brainchild Riot – of MOBA League of Legends – still does not just bring considerable profits to the Chinese owner, but also the most profitable PC game in the world. During 2015 the game was able to raise $ 1.63 billion, becoming the undisputed leader. In 2016 LoL retained the championship and even improve the results, earning $ 1.7 billion.
Now let’s talk about the mobile segment in which Tencent also greatly succeeds, and the side which is gradually shifting the emphasis is not only the company but also the Chinese market as a whole. Last year,
Tencent bought Finnish mobile developer Supercell games. In order to take possession of the asset, the company had purchased from the Japanese SoftBank 73% stake in the studio, for which in 2015 earned $ 1.35 billion in net income.
All business Supercell analysts estimate at $ 10.2 billion, the transaction is valued at approximately $ 8.6 billion. At the time, in a relatively distant 2013, SoftBank acquired a 51% Supercell for $ 1.53 billion, and in 2015 increased its share to 73%. The amount of the second deal remained a secret.
According to the publication the assessment The Wall Street Journal, then the Finnish developer is estimated at $ 5.25 billion.
Total revenue Supercell three key projects for 2015 was $ 2.32 billion. For comparison, in 2014 the company’s profit before taxes was $ 592 million on revenue of $ 1.77 billion.
The company also announced the payment of dividends to its shareholders totaling about $ 669 million ($ 15.5 per share). In addition, in 2015 Supercell launched a buyback program of its shares for $ 128 million.
After the purchase of a controlling stake Supercell company Tencent became the owner of two of the most profitable in the world of video games – Clash of Clans and the League of Legends . Early last year, the market came another child Supercell – Clash Royale. For the first month the game has earned $ 110 million, which at that time was considered a very good indicator.
Who broke the record for the Pokemon the GO , which for the first month managed to attract more than 200 million. However, Clash Royale is still considered very successful project for which, by the way, carried out cyber tournaments. Not all mobile games can boast this.
Once past Tencent in the past few years appears to us, at a glance, you can see in the future. Tencent said that in 2017 will continue to actively seek opportunities for mergers and acquisitions. It is hard to imagine how to change the video game industry if Tencent will make at least another couple of equally successful acquisitions. Perhaps, in this case, the status of the king of Chinese players will be provided. But how to treat this? As to the bare facts, or still wary?
Tencent is gradually shifting towards mobile gaming is because it is more profitable. Chinese people in general tend to take video game industry, asking only one question – is profitable or not? There is always a rational approach has obvious advantages in the form of an impressive bank account. Well, the short-sightedness in terms of visionary, on what the game industry held for decades, Asia is ready to make up for investment in Western developers.
If you look at the issue from this perspective, the overall igrostroy threatens nothing but the appearance of almost every game a pair of buttons for microtransactions. If in this case we are not talking about turning any shooter MOBA or in pay-to-win, that is not happening, you can sleep peacefully, as the Chinese make their billions.
