Tencent: the patent of its console / portable PC appeared

Tencent

Over the past few years, the Chinese company Tencent has expanded more and more within the gaming industry. One of the largest operations carried out by the Asian giant was the marketing of Nintendo Switch on Chinese soil. Now that China has opened up much more to the world of gaming, the company seems to also want to go into the creation of its own gaming hardware.

With a series of Tweets published by the well-known analyst Daniel Ahmad, we discover some patents related to Tencent. In one of these, what would be the PC controller produced by the Chinese company is put on display. From the images we can see how the pad mixes many elements already present in the Sony and Xbox controllers, all in a single design that does not differ much from what are now modern standards.

The second patent is even more interesting. brought out by Amhad. In this case there is even talk of a portable console by Tencent that shares the philosophy, but also parts of the design, of Nintendo Switch. The patent in question dates back to October 2020 and highlights a machine that would act as a laptop. By sharpening the view on the image, it is possible to scrutinize the presence of a key related to Windows 10, which would make it intuitive to use the console to run Windows PC titles.

While Tencent is known as a leader in mobile gaming, the firm has been pushing further into the AAA console / PC space

- It distributes the Switch in China

- Is developing more cross platform titles

- Investing in console game devs

Another recent patent: https://t.co/4MvvSFzU4e

- Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 2, 2021



At the moment Tencent has not yet revealed anything official about it on its PC controller, or even on the portable console. Being patents, we don't really know what will end these projects, but if the Chinese giant's intentions are to push even harder in the gaming industry, we won't be surprised if in the future we see more announcements of this type from the company.

If you want a portable console to complement your primary gaming platform, you can buy Nintendo Switch on Amazon at this address.

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Exclusive: Tencent's Timi gaming studio generated $10 billion in 2020, sources say

© Reuters/Tingshu Wang FILE PHOTO: Logo of Tencent is seen at its booth at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing

By Pei Li and Tony Munroe

(Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Tencent's Timi Studios, maker of popular video games Honor of Kings and Call of Duty Mobile, generated revenue of $10 billion last year, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The $10 billion would make Timi the world's largest developer, the sources say, which many industry watchers had suspected to be the case.

It also provides a hefty basis for its ambitions to move beyond mobile games and compete directly with global heavyweights developing expensive 'AAA' titles on platforms such as desktop computers, Sony's PlayStation, Nintendo's Switch and Microsoft's Xbox.

In a recruitment notice last month, a Timi engineer wrote that the company aims to create a new AAA game that resembles the virtual community from the movie Ready Player One, and will 'compete head-to-head against big powers from Japan, Korea, Europe and U.S.'

Tencent is building studios overseas, including one for Timi and one for Lightspeed and Quantum, both in Los Angeles, with the goal of creating content with original intellectual property that has global appeal.

Tencent aims eventually to derive half its game revenue from overseas, from 23 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, the most recently available figure.

Many major studios are turning to Tencent for support to convert their 'hardcore' desktop or console games to mobile. Such games feature long sessions and in-depth storytelling or battles, with some including multiplayer online role-playing or online battle arenas.

Last week, Tencent reported 156.1 billion yuan ($23.79 billion) in overall online game revenues for 2020 but did not break down revenue for individual studios, which are run independently and compete with each other.

Timi's proceeds accounted for 40% of the game revenue, said the two people.

Of Tencent's remaining gaming revenue last year, its Lightspeed and Quantum studio, the developer of PUBG Mobile, another top-grossing game, contributed 29%, the people said, while 26% was proceeds from publishing for other developers. Aurora Studios Group, boosted by its Moonlight Blade Mobile title, contributed 3%, the people said.

The sources declined to be identified because the information is not public.

Tencent did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Tencent, which has benefited from a surge in paying gamers, said last week its online games revenue rose 29% to 39.1 billion yuan in the fourth quarter.

($1 = 6.5619 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Pei Li and Tony Munroe. Editing by Gerry Doyle)