China-based FinTech Tencent Holdings Ltd. cited “new regulatory and macroeconomic developments” as catalysts for the company’s lackluster 3 percent revenue increase in the third quarter of 2021, according to an unaudited financial performance analysis on the company’s website.
The quarterly increase marks the company’s lowest revenue boost since it went public 17 years ago, according to Reuters.
Tencent Holdings — the company behind popular video games including Call of Duty Mobile, Clash of Clans and Honor of Kings — saw year-over-year revenues grow by 19 percent to 415.9 billion yuan for the period Sept. 30, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2021, according to Tencent’s report.
“We are proactively embracing the new regulatory environment which we believe should contribute to a more sustainable development path for the industry,” the company wrote in the quarterly earnings statement. “In the domestic games market, our industry-leading efforts in fully complying with new regulations significantly reduced minors’ game time and spending, fostering a healthier gameplay environment.”
In addition to Chinese regulations on the amount of game time, in September regulators mandated that Alibaba adopt Tencent’s WeChat Pay on its platform. The requirement was aimed at leveling the playing field among the country’s technology companies.
Related: Chinese Regulators Order Alibaba To Adopt Tencent’s WeChat Pay
In a concerted effort to prevent a monopoly, regulators have also ordered Tencent and Alibaba to stop blocking one another’s website links on their platforms, according to PYMNTS. Dubbed “walled gardens,” regulators view the link-blocking as limiting the choices of potential customers.
Read more: China’s Regulator Orders Tech Companies to Open ‘Walled Gardens’
The earnings report follows last week’s announcement that Tencent was partnering with EasyTransfer to simplify overseas tuition payments for Chinese students, according to PYMNTS. The collaborative effort enables students to use Tencent’s WeChat Pay secure payment infrastructure to make overseas college tuition payments to more than 1,200 universities and school across 80 countries, including the U.K., Australia, Canada, and the U.S.
See also: EasyTransfer, Tencent Offer Chinese Students Platform for Overseas Tuition Payment
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