During a company meeting Pony Ma, CEO of the tech giant Tencent, outlined a critical picture of the company's performance in the video game sector over the last year. The CEO warned of the significant obstacles Tencent is facing, in a context where competitors launch successful titles while the company's new releases have failed to meet expectations. At the annual staff meeting, Ma expressed confidence in the company's long-term development. However, she acknowledged that as the market leader in gaming, Tencent “seems to be resting on its laurels.” She noted how “new game companies are emerging in a constant stream.”
But he identified the internationalization of domestic games as a major growth opportunity, noting that Tencent is moving to a horizontal approach in hardware and software development, abandoning its previous vertical focus. The CEO noted that the company has earned a reputation in the past for its R&D capabilities in the mobile gaming industry. Now, she is busy reigniting the fighting spirit, urging employees to “give it their all” and work to integrate all business units in jointly developing products and services. Speaking about the development of artificial intelligence, Ma admitted that Tencent is “not the most advanced, but we are not too far behind.”
The company was hit by a severe crisis in the video game industry in 2021, when Chinese authorities introduced restrictions to limit children's screen time and fight addiction. Approval of new titles has also been suspended for almost a year, with the regulator only starting to issue new licenses in early 2023. In 2023, TikTok's parent company ByteDance announced it will stop development of most part of the new titles and will sell its current portfolio, cutting 1,000 jobs at its main games studio.
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