A surge in revenue from its gaming division, maker of the widely popular Honour of Kings mobile game, is expected to drive nearly a 50 per cent increase in Chinese internet giant Tencent’s Q2 turnover,Reuters reported
The company’s profit for the April to June period is forecast to increase 32 per cent year-on-year to CNY14.15 billion ($2.1 billion), with revenue growing 48 per cent to CNY52.98 billion, according to estimates by Thomson Reuters.
Tencent, maker of China’s most popular messaging app WeChat and the world’s largest gaming company, is also expected to post strong gains in advertising revenue as well as mobile payments.
Mobile games turnover is forecast to have overtaken PC games sales for the first time during the quarter, accounting for about 30 per cent of revenue, Reuters said.
In early July Tencent said it would limit the number of hours children can play Honour of Kings following complaints from parents the game was addictive. However, the company said its decision would not affect its performance.
Tencent plans to launch the popular game, which claims more than 80 million active daily players, in the US and Western Europe from as early as September to diversify its sources of revenue. To date, it released the game under different names in markets including Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam.
The game’s rapid growth is expected to continue as Tencent taps into WeChat’s active user base of 938 million, Reuters said.
Tencent reports Q2 results on 16 August.
