Tencent wants to strengthen itself outside of China and protect its business from the growing control of the Chinese authorities. According to the Financial Times, citing sources, the holding intends to actively buy shares in foreign studios. First of all, in European countries.
According to one of the sources, Tencent fears that the authorities will not allow it to dominate the Chinese gaming market. In the first half of 2022, Tencent accounted for 44% of the revenue of all online games in the country. That’s partly why she’s going to diversify her portfolio.
Tencent also saw a serious competitor in the Saudi Arabian Sovereign Wealth Fund (PIF), which recently began investing massively in foreign gaming companies.
Tencent is one of the most active investors in the gaming market. According to analysts from Niko Partners, at the beginning of 2021, it concluded deals on average once every 2.5 days, but most of the investments came from developers from China. In 2022, the pace of Tencent investments slowed down.