If someone were to ask you which video game company was absolutely dominating the revenue charts in 2016, what would you say? Unless you cheated and read the headline, we’re guessing that Tencent wouldn’t be the first name to come to mind.
Yet this is reality: According to Newzoo’s Global Games Market Report, Chinese publisher Tencent has raked in an astounding $5.3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2016 alone. Even crazier is the thought that with the acquisition of Supercell, Tencent should end the year around the $13 billion mark.
This puts Tencent heads and shoulders above other online game leaders, including Activision Blizzard ($3 billion), EA ($2.6 billion), and NetEase ($1.9 billion). Not in the top 10 but climbing fast at #12 was Ubisoft, due largely to The Division driving up the company’s revenues by 193%. Other notable online public companies in the top 25 include Nexon (#11), Square Enix (#14), and NCsoft (#23).
The report says that 2016 has been the biggest year so far for video game revenue in five years, with the top 25 public companies increasing their combined revenue 22% over the same period in 2015.
