China-based entertainment, fintech and social media giant Tencent booked jumps in revenue and profit in Q3 as it continued to expand user numbers on its popular mobile games.

In its earnings statement, the company noted its online gaming division revenue was up 45 per cent year-on-year at CNY41.4 billion ($6.3 billion) with the vast majority attributable to its mobile titles.

The company pointed to the popularity of China-specific games Peacekeeper Elite and Honor of Kings in addition to those aimed at a global audience.

Hailing the enduring popularity of battle-focused Honor of Kings, it added the game had 100 million daily active users (DAU) in the first ten months of the year. The company plans to capitalise on the brand by releasing a cartoon based on the game and a related live action drama series.

“While our best-known games such as Honor of Kings attract the most attention, lesser-known games also contribute to our game business’ stable growth. For example, Naruto Mobile, an internally developed game based on the popular anime IP, has recently become one of the top fighting games in China with all-time high DAU and revenue, despite being first released over four years ago.”

Others
Away from gaming, the company reported a 16 per cent revenue boost from online advertising, mostly due to increased demand from growth sectors during the pandemic such as education and e-commerce.

It also booked a 24 per cent increase in earnings from its Fintech division, which includes its mobile payment segment, on higher revenue from commercial payment and wealth management services.

Social and chat platforms WeChat and Weixin recorded a 5.4 per cent increase in monthly active users to 1.2 billion.

Across the business, Q3 revenue increased 29 per cent to CNY125.4 billion with net profit attributable to equity holders up 32 per cent to CNY32.3 billion, when stripping out one-off items.

Including one-off items, net profit was up 89 per cent to CNY38.5 billion.