Tencent Owns Riot Games

Tencent has purchased the shares in Riot Games that it previously did not own, bringing the ownership up to 100%. The Chinese gaming, messaging and Internet behemoth already has the license to operate Riot’s hit League of Legends in China and has generated a good portion of its gaming revenue from that game. In addition, Tencent owns a strong percentage of Southeast Asian games operator Garena, and Garena holds the license to League of Legends in SEA, which put the company on the map to begin with. Tencent owns other game developers in North America already, but Riot is the largest.

Mobile Version of Crossfire Succeeds

Tencent is also enjoying great success with mobile games, and the latest is the mobile version of the hit shooter game Crossfire (jointly developed by Tencent and Korea’s Smilegate). On December 5th the PCU hit 1 million users in mainland China with more than 10 million registered users, after launching beta testing in September.

Six Facts About China’s Internet

People.cn released an article including six facts about China’s Internet development ahead of the Second World Internet Conference to be held in Wuzhen. The first fact is that the number of Chinese Internet users has reached 668 million, more than the total population of the E.U.

Dragon Nest Coming to Vietnam

According to Inside Games Asia, “Vietnamese VGG Entertainment and Cherry Credits from Singapore announced the signing of co-operation agreement to publish the blockbuster Multiplayer Online Free-To-Play Action game: Dragon Nest, in Vietnam, slated to be released in the first quarter of 2016.”

Niko Partners on Twitter

Follow us on Twitter @nikochina to see these comments in real time as we publish them! Here are a few of our tweets from last week:

  • Tencent’s empire is growing even bigger: Riot Games now owned entirely by Tencent http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/16/10326320/riot-games-now-owned-entirely-by-tencent?
    utm_campaign=polygon&utm_content=article%3Atop&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter … via @Polygon
  • Google Tests Out China’s Free Trade Zone https://nikopartners.com/google-tests-out-chinas-free-trade-zone/ …
  • Yeahmobi, a Niko client, put out an analysis of the Vietnam mobile Internet environment. Find it here: http://insidegamesasia.biz/vietnams-mobile-internet-environment-analysis-
  • 360 Game is entering the competitive area of bringing games from the US and other countries into the Chinese market http://insidegamesasia.biz/360-game-aims-to-bring-us-games-to-china/ …
  • The9 Obtains Exclusive License for Crossfire 2 in China https://nikopartners.com/the9-obtains-exclusive-license-for-crossfire-2-in-china/ …
  • China to Release Guidelines for Pre-installed Mobile Apps http://www.marbridgeconsulting.com/marbridgedaily/2015-11-20/article/88370/china_to_release_guidelines_for_pre_installed_mobile_apps …