ByteDance Generates $1B in Mobile Game Player Spending in Past Year

TikTok owner ByteDance generated $1 billion in mobile game player spending from June 21, 2021 to Monday (June 20), up 16% year over year, according to data analytics company Sensor Tower, CNBC reported Thursday (June 23).

The mobile game player spending numbers include data from Apple’s App Store and Google Play, but not third-party Android stores in China, the report said. ByteDance set up a dedicated gaming business unit earlier this year to go with its short video apps TikTok and the Chinese version Douyin.

The company acquired gaming studios Moonton and C4 last year, with the deals including the purchase of some popular overseas games, including Mobile Legends: Bang Bang from Moonton, which generated $317.7 million, accounting for 32% of the $1 billion sales figure. C4’s Girls Chronicle: Idle Heroine was ByteDance’s second-most popular game in the past year, the report said.

“ByteDance’s deals for Mobile Legends developer Moonton and Girls Chronicle studio C4 have been transformative,” said Craig Chapple, mobile insights strategist at Sensor Tower, in an email to CNBC.

“It’s built up its games operations so quickly that it’s already becoming a significant mobile games publisher, particularly in China and Asia,” he wrote. “It has a long way to go to catch up with heavyweights like NetEase and Tencent, of course, but it’s moving in the right direction.”

Related: Report: TikTok Tests Gaming in Vietnam as Part of Broader Push

In May, Reuters reported that TikTok has been conducting tests so users in Vietnam can play games on the video-sharing app, the company’s first step in what it says is “part of plans for a major push into gaming,” according to four people familiar with the matter.

The addition of games on TikTok’s platform “would boost advertising revenue as well as the amount of time users spend on the app,” the report said, noting TikTok has more than 1 billion active monthly users. About 70% of Vietnam citizens are under age 35 and most in the country are considered tech-savvy.

TikTok is also working on plans to offer gaming across Southeast Asia, sources said, with two of them saying the games could launch in the third quarter of this year.