腾讯布局游戏业，下一个猎物是谁？

中国科技巨头腾讯控股最近完成了对Riot Games的收购。Riot Games是世界热门游戏《英雄联盟》的开发商。

据SuperData Research公司统计，这款游戏每月的玩家人数超过1亿，每年为位于洛杉矶的开发商创造约15亿美元收入。

腾讯在2011年2月以4亿美元收购了Riot Games的多数股份（93%）。研究公司EEDAR分析师帕特里克•沃克表示，Riot当时的估值为5亿美元。

沃克表示：“据EEDAR估算，目前《英雄联盟》每年的收入将超过10亿美元，这意味着Riot的价值远远超过10亿美元，为获得Riot的剩余股份，腾讯应该要花一大笔钱。”

在多人联机在线竞技游戏兴起之初，腾讯便看到了它的潜力。腾讯在2008年11月便获得了《英雄联盟》的中国代理权，并在2009年首次投资Riot Games公司。

《英雄联盟》深受中国玩家的喜爱。据研究机构Newzoo估算，《英雄联盟》每月的活跃用户有8500万，其中至少4000万位于中国。

Newzoo公司 CEO彼得•沃尔曼表示：“两年前，腾讯曾间接表示，仅有半数《英雄联盟》玩家来自中国。现在，这款游戏已经是中国最受欢迎的多人联机在线竞技游戏。同样重要的是，它也是中国规模最大的电子竞技项目。”

沃尔曼认为，腾讯主要有三个首要任务：扩大其在西方游戏市场中的份额，发展全球手机游戏市场，主导中国的电子竞技产业。

沃尔曼认为，腾讯主要有三个首要任务：扩大其在西方游戏市场中的份额，发展全球手机游戏市场，主导中国的电子竞技产业。

与西方发行商不同，亚洲的游戏发行商通常采取的策略是控制内容和发行渠道。

沃尔曼说道：“腾讯在中国繁荣的在线广告业务拥有更大的份额，因此，从中长期来看，电子竞技将成为获取新收入，并推动公司发展的关键途径。此外，相比西方发行商的作法，腾讯还可以将它的PC和手机游戏变成真正的娱乐特许经营业务。”

虽然Riot Games是腾讯全球视频游戏策略的一个关键部分，但它也只是其中一个环节。沃尔曼表示，腾讯在Glue Mobile占有显著份额，并且拥有动视暴雪至少10%的股份。动视暴雪最近以59亿美元收购了King Digital Entertainment 公司。

沃尔曼说道：“腾讯间接控制了全球前十大游戏公司约三分之一的游戏收入。”

此外，腾讯在动视暴雪不断发展的电子竞技业务中也占有一定的份额。动视发行公司已经对电子竞技领域进行了长达5年的投入，还计划在2016年举办总奖金高达300万美元的“使命召唤世界联赛”。暴雪娱乐也有非常活跃的电子竞技联赛，竞赛项目包括《星际争霸2》、《炉石传说》、《风暴英雄》和玩家人数越来越多的《魔兽世界》。

虽然包括阿里巴巴在内的许多中国公司都受到了经济低迷的影响，但腾讯却保持着繁荣的发展态势。截至2015年9月，腾讯的市场估值达到2300亿美元。除了网络业务，腾讯还有超过10亿微信和QQ用户。分析师相信，腾讯对视频游戏业务的投资远没有结束。

SuperData公司CEO约斯特•范德伦表示：“腾讯的前景无可限量。我可以想象腾讯会投资一家游戏发行商，例如Wargaming。只要腾讯发现一款它喜欢的游戏——当然是按照它的标准——它便会决定自己开发和完善这款游戏，或者投资和收购开发这款游戏的公司。（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

审校：任文科

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings recently completed its acquisition of Riot Games, the developer behind the world’s top eSports game,League of Legends.

The game has over 100 million monthly players, which generate approximately $1.5 billion annually for the Los Angeles-based developer, according to SuperData Research.

The company acquired a majority stake (93%) of Riot Games back in February 2011 for a reported $400 million. According to Patrick Walker, analyst at research firm EEDAR, Riot was valued at $500 million back then.

“With EEDAR estimating current League of Legendsrevenues to be more than $1 billion per year, this means that the value of Riot is significantly higher than $1 billion and Tencent would have paid a lot of money for the remaining 7% of the company’s shares,” Walker says.

Tencent TCEHY 0.36% had seen the potential for the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game from its inception. The company signed a Chinese distribution deal for League of Legends in November 2008 and made an initial investment in Riot Games in 2009.

Chinese gamers love League of Legends. The game has 85 million monthly active users, at least 40 million of whom are in China, according to estimates from research firm Newzoo.

“Two years ago, Tencent indirectly stated that just over half of their players were from China,” says Newzoo CEO Peter Warman. “It is by far the leading MOBA in China and, equally important, the biggest eSports franchise.”

Warman believes that Tencent has three main priorities: growing its share of the Western games market as a whole, growing the global mobile games market, and dominating eSports in China.

Tencent has three main priorities: growing its share of the Western games market as a whole, growing the global mobile games market, and dominating eSports in China.

Different from Western publishers, Asian game publishers most often have a strategy that involves owning content as well as distribution channels.

“ESports is a key route to new revenues and company growth for the medium- to long-term future, giving Tencent a larger share of China’s booming online ad business,” Warman says. “It also allows them to build out their PC and mobile game titles into true entertainment franchises comparable to what Western publishers have done.”

While Riot Games is a key part of Tencent’s global video game strategy, it’s but one piece of the pie. Warman says Tencent controls a significant share of Glu Mobile and has at least a 10% stake in Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI 1.21% , which recently acquired King Digital Entertainment for $5.9 billion.

“Indirectly, Tencent partially controls about a third of the revenues generated by the top 10 global companies, according to game revenues,” Warman says.

Tencent also owns a piece of Activision Blizzard’s growing eSports business. Activision Publishing has the $3 million Call of Duty World League launching in 2016, an expansion of the publisher’s five-year commitment to eSports. And Blizzard Entertainment has active eSports leagues aroundStarCraft 2, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and a growing World of Warcraft audience.

While many Chinese companies, including Alibaba BABA 2.38% , have been hurt by the down economy in China, Tencent has prospered. The company had a $230 billion market valuation as of September 2015. In addition to its web business, the company has over 1 billion users of its mobile chat products WeChat and QQ. And analysts believe Tencent isn’t finished investing in the video game business.

“For a firm like Tencent, the sky’s the limit,” says SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen. “I can imagine a scenario in which Tencent would invest in a publisher like Wargaming, for instance. Whenever Tencent sees a game they like—based on specific metrics, of course—it decides to either build it itself and improve on it, or invest and acquire the firm behind it.”